COVID-19 vaccine removed from list of shots recommended for healthy children, pregnant women

The COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be on the recommended vaccine list for healthy children and pregnant women.

The announcement to remove the vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization schedule was made Tuesday morning by the Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, CNN reported.

Kennedy posted a video to X, in which he said, “As of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule. 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 booster strategy in children.”

The CDC had recommended updated COVID vaccines for anyone six months and older.

But Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said there was no evidence that healthy children needed the vaccine, adding that most countries have done away with the recommendation, Reuters reported.

This is the latest change related to the government’s COVID-19 vaccine policy. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration said it would change how it approves COVID vaccines and require new clinical trials for annual boosters for healthy people under the age of 65. The shots would be limited to older people and those at risk of severe illness.

The FDA had been considering pregnant women eligible for the shots, CBS News reported.

Reuters pointed out that Kennedy has long been a skeptic of vaccines and has been changing the country’s health system to be in line with President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the government.

Kennedy made the announcement without waiting for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was expected to vote on the recommendations in June, CBS News reported.

He also has not decided on recommendations made by the vaccine panel concerning respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and meningococcal vaccines, CBS News reported. The committee updated the recommendations for those two vaccines in April, but since there is no CDC Director, it is Kennedy’s decision until one is named.

He did decide to accept the decision to restrict the Chikungunya vaccine due to potential side effects.