Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says CDC Drops COVID Vaccine For 'Healthy' Pregnant Women, Children

The U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be among the recommended vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization schedule.

Kennedy announced the change in a video posted to the social media platform X.

“As of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,” Kennedy said. “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.”

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He was joined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

As of Tuesday morning, the immunization schedule posted online had not yet been changed.

In 2021, Kennedy filed a citizen petition requesting the FDA to revoke Emergency Use Authorizations for existing COVID-19 vaccines and refrain from approving and licensing them.

The update follows the FDA’s changes to COVID-19 vaccine requirements, limiting annual booster approvals to older and high-risk Americans while implementing stricter clinical trial requirements for healthy adults.

The FDA will now require new clinical trials for approval of annual COVID-19 boosters for healthy Americans under age 65, effectively restricting their availability to older adults and those at risk of severe illness, according to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and top U.S. vaccines regulator Vinay Prasad in the New England Journal of Medicine, reported Reuters.

Last week, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted to recommend a monovalent JN.1-lineage vaccine composition.

Based on the totality of the evidence, the FDA has advised the manufacturers of the approved COVID-19 vaccines that to more closely match currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 viruses, the COVID-19 vaccines for use in the United States beginning in fall 2025 should be monovalent JN.1-lineage-based COVID-19 vaccines (2025-2026 Formula), preferentially using the LP.8.1 strain. 

On Friday, Moderna Inc. MRNA submitted an application to the FDA to review its Spikevax 2025-2026 formula, targeting the SARS-CoV-2 variant LP.8.1.

Also, Novavax Inc. NVAX received limited FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, marking a regulatory milestone and unlocking a $175 million milestone payment from partner Sanofi SA SNY

The approval came after a six-week delay as regulators sought additional data.

The vaccine is now authorized for people aged 65 and older and for individuals 12 and up with underlying medical conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

Price Action: MRNA stock is down 2.86% at $27.01 at the last check Tuesday.

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