by Jeroslyn JoVonn
May 29, 2025
The CDC will no longer recommend COVID vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put an end to recommending routine COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the change on May 27 alongside the current director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.
“Bottom line: it’s common sense, and it’s good science,” Kennedy tweeted. “We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again.”
Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from @CDCgov recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/Ytch2afCLP
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) May 27, 2025
The CDC’s update follows Makary’s announcement last week that the agency intends to limit COVID-19 vaccines to older adults and those with underlying health conditions. Before receiving approval, COVID-19 shots for healthy children and adults will require extensive placebo-controlled clinical trials.
The announcement is good news for critics of the COVID-19 vaccine, including Kennedy, who has a long history of being against most vaccines. Before joining the HHS, he submitted a citizen petition in 2021 urging the FDA to revoke the vaccines’ authorization. That same year, he controversially labeled the COVID vaccines as “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
However, not everyone is on board with the CDC’s change. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says the institution is “extremely disappointed” by the HHS announcement.
“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 group wrote in a statement. “We also understand that despite the change in recommendations from HHS, the science has not changed. It is very clear that COVID infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability.”
The director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania also criticized the decision, citing the children currently hospitalized with COVID.
“We still have children in our emergency department with COVID. When we see them, they have bronchiolitis or bronchitis,” said Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania. “Do they consider that not worthy of prevention?”
The CDC’s website continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for “everyone 6 months and older.” However, Dr. Sean O’Leary, an infectious disease expert with the American Academy of Pediatrics, noted that no one from HHS consulted them prior to the announcement.
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