Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering pulling the national recommendation that children receive the Covid-19 vaccine, according to a new report.
If Kennedy moves to end the recommendation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would remove the vaccine from the recommended childhood vaccine schedule. The action would mark Kennedy’s most significant yet to change the country’s vaccination practices.
Kennedy is a staunch anti-vaccine activist who has previously spread false claims about vaccines.
The Food and Drug Administration has determined Covid-19 vaccines to be safe for children, and ongoing monitoring shows this continues to be the case, according to the CDC.
Eliminating the vaccine from the childhood vaccine schedule wouldn’t mean kids can’t get it, but it would influence Covid-19 vaccination procedures and use across the U.S. It would also mean that more children would likely become infected with the potentially deadly disease and present a contagion risk to other children and adults.
Pediatricians use the CDC schedule to determine when to give children the vaccines, and insurance companies use it to determine which vaccines to cover.
Two anonymous officials familiar with the discussions told Politico the policy is still under discussion and could change. Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon similarly told Politico that “no final decision has been made.”
Consideration of the change comes after Kennedy appeared on Fox News Tuesday night, when he once again spread the false claim that the Covid-19 vaccine causes an increased death rate among children.
“The recommendation for children was always dubious, and it was dubious because kids had almost no risk for Covid-19,” Kennedy told Fox News’ Jesse Watters. “Some kids, some certain kids that had very profound morbidities, may have a slight risk. Most kids don’t.”
He added: “So why are we giving this to tens of millions of kids when the vaccine itself does have profound risk?”
Kennedy has also vowed to investigate the entire childhood vaccine schedule in February. This came even after he promised a Senator he wouldn’t touch the vaccine schedule during his confirmation process.
“Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy said in his inaugural address to the Department of Health and Human Services.
His organization, Children’s Health Defense, has advocated against vaccinations and spread the baseless claim that vaccines cause autism. In his book, The Real Anthony Fauci, Kennedy also falsely claimed that Anthony Fauci colluded with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to exaggerate the extent of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid killed more than 7 million people worldwide, including more than one million in the U.S.
Spreading vaccine misinformation resulted in Meta deactivating Kennedy’s Instagram account in 2021. He’s now dictating vaccine protocol across the nation.
