The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that kids with no underlying health conditions “may receive” COVID-19 vaccines, dropping a broad recommendation for all children to get vaccinated against the virus.
Updates to CDC’s childhood immunization schedule were published late Thursday, following an announcement earlier this week by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the agency would stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women.
“Where the parent presents with a desire for their child to be vaccinated, children 6 months and older may receive COVID-19 vaccination, informed by the clinical judgment of a healthcare provider and personal preference and circumstances,” the CDC says in its new guidance.
Thursday’s change to what the CDC calls “shared clinical decision-making” recommendations for children means that health insurance companies will continue to be required to broadly cover the shots for now in this age group.
The agency still broadly recommends COVID-19 vaccines for moderately or severely immunocompromised children, in addition to most adults for now. COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy are now listed as “No Guidance/Not Applicable,” where they were previously recommended for all pregnant adults.
While Kennedy said in his video announcement that healthy pregnant women were also being removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for COVID-19 vaccines, several pages of agency guidance saying that pregnant women are recommended to get vaccinated because of their higher risk of severe disease remain on the CDC’s website as of Friday.
“Studies including hundreds of thousands of people around the world show that COVID-19 vaccination before and during pregnancy is safe, effective, and beneficial to both the pregnant woman and the baby. The benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy,” one CDC webpage still reads.
Health authorities and experts closely watch changes to the CDC’s recommendations, usually updated through open meetings of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, since they are tied to policies like liability protections and insurance coverage requirements.
The CDC also deleted a statement previously on the childhood immunization schedule that the guidance had been recommended by the committee, approved by the CDC and backed by a number of outside medical groups.
So far, the CDC’s changes echo what the committee had already been considering voting on next month: narrowing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations to only older adults and younger ages with risk factors, but still allowing for permissive coverage of others getting vaccinated.
The CDC has used “shared clinical decision-making” guidance in the past to allow for federal requirements guaranteeing insurance coverage and access to some vaccines, while stopping short of full-throated recommendations for everyone eligible to get a shot.
At its last meeting in April, the committee had not signaled that they were planning to lift the recommendation for pregnant women to get vaccinated.
Instead, pregnancy was listed during the meeting as among the underlying conditions that might warrant a continued recommendation for vaccination.
RFK Jr.’s directive to CDC
Multiple CDC officials said the change came after the agency received a directive signed by Kennedy, shortly after he posted his announcement to social media.
Kennedy’s memo cited “a review of the recommendations” of the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, saying that the risks of the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children “do not outweigh the purported benefits of the vaccine.” The directive also cited “the lack of high-quality data demonstrating safety of the mRNA vaccines during pregnancy combined with the uncertainty of the benefits” for pregnant moms and their baby.
“Truly the death of expertise. This would be like the secretary of transportation directing that all planes must fly 5,000 feet higher than current. It’s vibe-based decision making,” one federal health official said of the directive.
Agency officials overseeing immunization recommendations said they were surprised by Kennedy’s move. The Washington Post previously reported news of the directive.
“As you might be aware, the HHS Secretary issued a directive to CDC to update COVID-19 vaccine recommendations on the child and adult immunization schedules. In accordance with that instruction, CDC last night posted updated versions,” agency officials wrote in an email to staff Friday morning.
Margaret Brennan contributed reporting.
