May 28, 2025
It’s common sense and it’s good science.
Director of National Institutes of Health Dr. Jay Bhattacharya in an announcement with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will stop recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy pregnant women and healthy children.
Why It Matters: The COVID vaccine became widely available in 2021, and the CDC added the shot to its recommended immunization schedule for anyone six months or older.
- Pregnant women are considered at high risk of COVID-19, according to Mayo Clinic. “Pregnant people usually get better without needing care in the hospital. But pregnancy is a factor that raises the risk of severe COVID-19. That risk stays higher for at least a month after giving birth,” Mayo Clinic states.
- Children up to 17 years old accounted for 1.5% of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 from 2020 to 2024, according to Mayo Clinic, but children under 1 year old and those with preexisting conditions may develop serious complications.
- “There’s no evidence healthy kids need it today, and most countries have stopped recommending it for children,” said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary in the announcement.
What Others Are Saying:
- Following the announcement, Dr. Paul Offit, the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania said, “We still have children in our emergency department with Covid. When we see them, they have bronchiolitis or bronchitis. Do they consider that not worthy of prevention?”
- “As ob-gyns who treat patients every day, we have seen firsthand how dangerous COVID-19 infection can be during pregnancy and for newborns who depend on maternal antibodies from the vaccine for protection,” said Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, the president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
- Others question if this will raise costs of the vaccine or its availability. “By removing the recommendation, the decision could strip families of choice. Those who want to vaccinate may no longer be able to, as the implications for insurance coverage remain unclear. It’s also unclear whether health care workers would be eligible to be vaccinated,“ said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. (Washington Post)
Read More: RFK Jr. says Covid-19 shot will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women (CNN)
RFK Jr. ends coronavirus shot recommendation for healthy children, pregnant women (Washington Post Gift Link)
by Kelly Dean, Based in Kentucky.
