Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the vaccine would not be included as part of the immunization schedule for healthy children.
The Covid vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or healthy pregnant women, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday.
The vaccines had been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since they first became available for those groups several years ago.
“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 C.D.C. recommended immunization schedule,” Mr. Kennedy said in a video he posted on X.
Before becoming part of the Trump administration, Mr. Kennedy had long campaigned against vaccinating children to protect them from Covid. In making the announcement, Mr. Kennedy seems to have reneged on a promise he made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, not to alter the childhood immunization schedule.
Flanked by Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who lead the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, Mr. Kennedy said in the video announcement that there was no clinical data to support additional shots for healthy children.
However, pediatricians point out that the youngest infants face among the highest risks for hospitalization, similar to older adults.