The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pulled its recommendation that healthy children and pregnant women receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a video. “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.”
Kennedy was joined by FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya.
“That ends today — it’s common sense and it’s good science,” Bhattacharya said.
Makary added, “There’s no evidence healthy kids need it today, and most countries have stopped recommending it for children.”
“We’re now one step closer to realizing President Trump’s promise to make America healthy again,” Kennedy said.
A similar decision was reached by the United Kingdom last year, as a U.K. vaccine advisory committee issued a rapid response letter declaring that pregnant women do not need to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Current NHS advice is that pregnant individuals should be offered four vaccines: ADACEL (whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus), COVID-19, and influenza and RSV (seasonally),” the rapid response letter, published in The BMJ, reads. “The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided at its October 2024 meeting that ‘it did not advise that pregnant individuals be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in Autumn 2025 and Spring 2026.’”
Despite U.S. agencies pulling their vaccine recommendation for children and pregnant women, the FDA recently approved Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine for adults aged 65 years and older.
