Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday that the COVID-19 vaccine has been removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women. This decision could significantly impact medical guidance and insurance coverage for these groups.
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, made the announcement in a video post on his X account, alongside Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, both of whom are medical professionals.
“We’re now one step closer to realizing President Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy stated in the video. However, the official immunization schedule on the CDC website had not yet been updated as of Tuesday afternoon.
The CDC’s immunization schedule serves as a key guide for doctors and also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs. It remains unclear how federal health officials define “healthy” children or pregnant women in this context.
Last week, the FDA announced plans to limit future COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals over 65 years old or those with underlying health conditions. While pregnancy is listed by the CDC as an underlying condition, the new framework could still exclude many pregnant women from receiving the vaccine.
