Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was contradicted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that he oversees, just days after he announced a new national COVID-19 vaccine policy.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump’s health secretary revealed that the CDC would no longer advise healthy children and healthy pregnant women to receive the COVID vaccine, reversing its longstanding guidance.
Kennedy blamed Joe Biden’s administration for making kids get “yet another COVID shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The Washington Post reported that officials at the CDC were blindsided by the announcement. They learned about the decision when Kennedy tweeted a video of himself announcing it.
However, on Friday, the CDC issued an update that kept COVID immunizations on the schedule for children between the ages of six months and 17 years old, The New York Times reported.
There is a change to the language. The CDC’s website now encourages “shared decision-making” between parents and doctors about whether kids should receive the shot.
The guidelines for pregnant women have been more drastically altered. The updated language says it has “no guidance” on whether the group should receive the shots. In other words, it neither endorses nor discourages getting the vaccine.
Before Trump’s arrival in office, the CDC’s guidance was that “everyone ages 6 months and older” should continue to receive the COVID vaccine.
A spokesperson for Health and Human Services argued in a statement to The Daily Beast that the new guidelines were in line with what Kennedy had announced.
“The old COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children under 18 and for pregnant women have been removed from the CDC vaccine schedule,” the statement said.
“The CDC and HHS encourage individuals to talk with their healthcare provider about any personal medical decision,” it added. “Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship. If a parent desires their healthy child to be vaccinated, their decision should be based on informed consent through the clinical judgment of their healthcare provider.”
Despite denying being anti-vaccine while speaking to senators during his confirmation process, Kennedy has taken actions that suggest skepticism. Amid a measles outbreak, the health secretary pushed a bogus vitamin treatment for the disease—which, in 2000, was ruled eradicated in the U.S. thanks to widespread vaccination.
Kennedy has also pushed the CDC to look for environmental causes of autism, calling the condition a “preventable disease.” While he did not specifically point to vaccines, he has long been associated with the movement pushing a link between the two.
Studies have not supported the claim that vaccines cause autism, and have instead indicated that it is largely genetic.
Notably, while discussing the measles vaccine earlier this month, Kennedy said that he doesn’t think “people should be taking advice, medical advice, from me.”
