RFK Jr. announces removal of COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for children and pregnant people
In a social media video, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant people.
In a social media video, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant people.
In a social media video, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant people.
In a nearly minute-long , announced the removal of COVID-19 vaccines from the recommended list for healthy children and pregnant people, sparking confusion and concern among some doctors and public health experts.
The removal of the vaccine from the recommendation list could affect how health insurance covers COVID-19 vaccine shots and how accessible they will be in the future.
In the video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Kennedy said the shot has been removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended vaccines list. As of Wednesday morning, . But no one from the CDC, which typically decides these types of things, appeared in the clip. Instead of featuring CDC officials, Kennedy appeared alongside the and
"Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another COVID shot despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat strategy in children," Kennedy said. "We're now one step closer to realizing President Trump's promise to Make America Healthy Again."
The timing and reasoning behind the announcement have led to questions about whether Kennedy's personal history of anti-vaccine stances, as opposed to new medical findings influenced the decision.
As of Wednesday morning, a check of the CDC website and .
As recently as last year, that hundreds of millions of people, including children and pregnant people, received a COVID-19 shot under the most intense vaccine safety monitoring in U.S. history.
"I think you have right now the head of Health and Human Services, who for 20 years has been an anti-vaccine activist, science denialist, and conspiracy theorist," , a member of the , said. "He's just carrying it on."
The announcement comes just before , where they typically review medical evidence and science before establishing new policies or recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the fall.
Kennedy's decision not to wait for their advice has raised further concerns among doctors and health experts that he is disregarding a scientific review process that has been in place for decades.