The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued updated advice on the COVID-19 vaccine days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said the agency would no longer recommend the shot to children and pregnant women.
The agency has kept the shot on its vaccine schedule for children between the ages of 6 months to 17 years of age, despite Kennedy saying they would no longer be recommended.
The CDC says children with no underlying health condition “may receive” COVID-19 vaccines, instead of broadly recommending that all children should get the inoculation. It now advises “shared clinical decision-making” between parents and physicians.
“Where the parent presents with a desire for their child to be vaccinated, children 6 months and older may receive COVID-19 vaccination, informed by the clinical judgment of a healthcare provider and personal preference and circumstances,” the guidelines now say.
The changes to the CDC’s recommendations for children mean that health insurance companies are still ostensibly required to cover the shot, at least for now.
However, there is a history of some health insurance companies not covering drugs listed on “shared clinical decision-making” recommendations, healthcare lawyer Richard Hughes IV said in an email.
“Based on my collective observations of payer coverage of vaccines, the bottom line is expect variability in coverage, prior authorization and out-of-pocket, all of which will discourage uptake.”
Kennedy said Tuesday the CDC would no longer recommend routine COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women in a post on the social media platform X.
“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 said in a video, joined by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya.
“It’s common sense, and it’s good science,” Bhattacharya said of the change.
It’s unclear how COVID-19 vaccine guidelines will change for pregnant women. The CDC’s stance on COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy is now “no guidance,” per a memo released from the agency Friday, according to The New York Times. The vaccine was previously recommended for all pregnant people.
The CDC’s website also continues to host pages of guidance recommending that pregnant women continue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine because of the higher risk they have of developing serious illness from the disease.
“Studies including hundreds of thousands of people around the world show that COVID-19 vaccination before and during pregnancy is safe, effective, and beneficial to both the pregnant woman and the baby,” the website states.
The Department of Health and Human Services has yet to respond to questions about the new guidelines from The Hill.
Nathaniel Weixel contributed to this report.
