By Apoorva Mandavilli and Christina Jewett New York Times
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The COVID vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or healthy pregnant women, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday.

He also withdrew the additional recommendation for immunizing pregnant women intended to shield mothers and younger infants, who can be at higher risk of severe illness.

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“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 recommended immunization schedule,” Kennedy said in a video he posted on the social platform X.

Kennedy said in the video announcement that there was no clinical data to support additional shots for healthy children.

Some public health experts immediately denounced the decision, pointing out that the risk of severe disease and hospitalization among infants is comparable to that among adults age 65 and older. Others roundly condemned the decision to stop recommending the shots for pregnant women, who are at high risk of severe illness and complications from COVID.

Since he became head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has undermined vaccines for measles and other diseases, questioned the integrity of federal officials who recommended them and championed questionable therapies.

Kennedy’s decision upends the standard process for vaccine recommendations, which are made by advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after considering existing studies, data and possible side effects. The agency director can accept, modify or reject the advisers’ suggestions. The health secretary is typically not directly involved in these matters, but at present, the CDC does not have a permanent director.

The move throws insurance coverage of the vaccines for children and pregnant women into question and is likely to create confusion among pharmacists who now largely administer the shots. Commercial insurers rely on the advice of CDC advisers for coverage decisions, which the health secretary can override.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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