COVID-19 vaccine access is not entirely being removed for children

The CDC is now at odds with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A stunning departure from RFK Jr’s latest attempt to undermine public health

HHS Secretary RFK Jr made a surprise announcement on May 27 that the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant people.

CDC officials received a one-page secretarial directive from RFK Jr five hours later according to the Washington Post that contradicted some of what he said in that video. In that video, RFK Jr claimed that previous recommendations were removed from the CDC website, but that did not initially happen.

What was also confusing was that the FDA published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that listed pregnancy as an eligible condition to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

However, as of May 29, the CDC changed its recommendations for children to state the following:

The CDC still recommends COVID-19 vaccines for immunocompromised children and most adults for now.

There was also an unusual change to the recommendations page. According to the Wayback Machine, the CDC had the following recommendation:

Now, that recommendation has been removed in the current web page:

This does not surprise me because these changes were not recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) or the AAP, AAFP or ACOG.

According to CBS News, one federal health official said the following regarding these recent changes:

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

I agree with this sentiment. Over the past several months, we have seen the quick dismantling of federal public health agencies and research grants while the rise of ant intellectualism and pseudoscience has been infecting the Department of Health and Human Services.

What about for Pregnancy?

As of writing this article, the recommendations from the CDC have not changed on this web page. The COVID-19 vaccine is still recommended for those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or might get pregnant in the future. It is unclear whether these recommendations will change based on what RFK Jr. previously said, but the ACIP that normally makes the CDC’s vaccine recommendations is likely to vote on this next month.

Why does this matter?

By law, health insurers must cover the cost of CDC-recommended vaccines without charging out-of-pocket costs to consumers. Since these vaccines are still listed as recommendations, then access will not likely change for now.

What can be done?

At this time, I strongly encourage you to continue to speak out about these issues and let your legislators know your thoughts. I am glad that the access has not been completely eliminated at this time, but there are clearly efforts to undermine proven public health measures, and we cannot stay silent.

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Although not required, any support is greatly appreciated.