Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the Department of Health and Human Services will no longer recommend that “healthy” pregnant women and children receive the COVID vaccine, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently advising that all Americans six months and older receive the updated vaccine, and warning that pregnancy puts people at risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus, as well as suffering serious pregnancy complications.
In a sub-60-second video posted on X, Kennedy—who has said his brain was partially eaten by a worm that crawled inside and died—smiles while declaring he “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.” He adds: “We’re now one step closer to realizing President Trump’s promise to make America healthy again.”
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National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya, who also appears in the video, as does Food and Drug Administration commissioner Martin Makary, calls the decision “common sense” and “good science.” Makary claims, “There’s no evidence healthy kids need it today, and most countries have stopped recommending it for children.”
As The Washington Post notes, “the social media post did not offer a detailed explanation about the move.” Georges C. Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, told the outlet he was unaware of any data supporting Kennedy and Co.’s claims. “Are they making this decision without going to any of their advisory committees?” Benjamin said. “Show us the evidence, the studies that have been done.… I don’t know of any.”
In fact, the CDC has previously said pregnant people are at higher risk of becoming very ill from COVID and are at an increased risk of pregnancy complications—including stillbirth. Last year, a study from the Cleveland Clinic, published in The EMBO Journal, showed that “mild and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections can trigger immune responses in a pregnant individual that may cause serious inflammatory responses in the developing fetus.” Receiving the vaccine during pregnancy also provides protection for newborn babies, who are at high risk of developing serious complications. “It’s really concerning,” Sean O’Leary, MD, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases, told NPR. “I think it’s going to be confusing not only for parents but also for public health professionals and medical professionals as well. This takes away choice.” Steven J. Fleischman, MD, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in a statement, “As ob-gyns who treat patients every day, we have seen firsthand how dangerous COVID infection can be during pregnancy and for newborns who depend on maternal antibodies from the vaccine for protection. The science has not changed. It is very clear that COVID infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability.”
Currently, the CDC website states that COVID vaccination for children “is safe,” that “getting vaccinated helps protect children against COVID-19,“ and that “children who have already had COVID-19 should still get vaccinated.” Last year, a study published in JAMA concluded that its “analysis of 3,913,063 cases suggest reduced pediatric SARS-CoV-2 transmission following immunization,” and that “these results support the use of COVID-19 vaccines to reduce COVID-19 incidence and hospitalization in pediatric populations.”
Kennedy is, of course, a longtime anti-vaxxer who has falsely claimed the COVID vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” He once involved himself in a vaccine controversy in Samoa and traveled to the country to amplify local anti-vaccine advocates, months before a deadly measles outbreak killed 83 people on the island nation. Earlier this month, amidst a measles outbreak in the US, he ordered federal agencies to find new treatments for the disease, despite the vaccine being wildly effective.
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The post Turns Out That RFK Jr.’s Plan to Make America Healthy Again Doesn’t Include Most Pregnant Women or Children appeared first on Vanity Fair.
