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vaccines
RFK Jr.’s Deadly War on Science
Kennedy is not a doctor or a scientist, but he got the job as America’s top public health officer. Now he’s making the wrong choices for all of us.
Jun 06, 2025
During an NBC interview on November 6, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was cleaning up his lifelong anti-vaccination act as he lobbied to become Health and Human Services secretary in the Trump administration.
“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away,” he said. “People ought to have choice…”
Kennedy is not a doctor or a scientist, but he got the job as America’s top public health officer. Now he’s making the wrong choices for all of us.
What Happened
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) report to Kennedy. As with flu shots, the agencies have approved and recommended Covid-19 vaccines as they have been adjusted annually to deal with the evolving virus.
On May 20, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, announced a new obstacle to FDA approval of any Covid-19 vaccine. For healthy Americans under 65, it must be subjected to large scale and time-consuming clinical trials. That data will replace the prior requirement of evidence showing only an immune response, which was the basis for approving the initial “Project Warp Speed” vaccines and all subsequent boosters.
Makary and Prasad asserted that they’re merely requiring “gold-standard data on persons at low risk.” But by not requiring such randomized, placebo-controlled trials for the elderly and other high-risk groups, they’re conceding that the vaccine prevents infection.
Even trying to follow the new requirement poses problems. It’s unethical to perform a clinical study that would give some people a worthless placebo instead of a vaccine, according to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the University of Pennsylvania:
[W]e have a vaccine that works, given that we know that SARS-CoV2 continues to circulate and cause hospitalizations and death, and there’s no group that has no risk.
What Should Have Happened
Every year, the Advisory Committee on Immunizaton Practices to the CDC—a nonpartisan group of medical and scientific experts—considers the latest studies, data, and possible side effects of both old and new vaccines. It develops recommendations that the CDC’s director can accept, modify, or reject.
The transparent process culminates in a schedule that pediatricians throughout the country use to decide the safest and most effective ages at which to vaccinate children. Insurance companies use the CDC schedule to determine the vaccines they will cover.
Kennedy didn’t wait for the Advisory Committee. Three days after the FDA’s announcement of its new approval requirement, Kennedy posted a video on X, with Commissioner Makary at his side:
I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that as of today the Covid-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule.
The blowback from the medical community was immediate. Every week in the United States, Covid-19 still kills 300 people and hundreds more are hospitalized. It’s the fourth leading cause of death overall and in the top 10 among children. And a new strain surging in Asia has now arrived here.
On May 30, the CDC walked back Kennedy’s proclamation with an update: For children between six months and 17 years old, the CDC now recommends “shared decision-making” between the physician and the patient or patient and guardian in determining whether to get the vaccine.
Healthy adults are still off the CDC’s list. And for pregnant women—all of whom are at greater risk of Covid-19 complications—the CDC’s positions are internally contradictory. Its new schedule no longer recommends that they get vaccinated. But the CDC continues to recommend the vaccine to anyone with “underlying conditions”—one of which is pregnancy. Meanwhile newborns who depend on their vaccinated mothers for immunity have the same likelihood of hospitalization and death from Covid-19 as someone who is 70 years old.
What Happens When Republicans Fear Trump More Than Endangering Public Health
Exhaustive studies have demonstrated that the vaccine is effective across all age groups. According to data published by the National Institutes of Health—another agency that Kennedy supervises—it has prevented millions of hospitalizations and saved millions of lives.
During Senate confirmation hearings, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked Kennedy to acknowledge that the Covid-19 vaccine had saved millions of people.
“I don’t think anybody can say that,” Kennedy replied.
Now, as with many Trump policies, the cost of a Covid-19 vaccine will hit hardest those adults who can least afford it. But when they don’t get vaccinated, the public at large will bear the consequences.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, expressed concerns about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views. But he overcame those reservations, perhaps because Republican primary challengers on the right were already telling Louisiana voters in the upcoming election that Cassidy was insufficiently loyal to Trump. After voting to convict Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection, the Louisiana Republican Party’s executive committee censured him.
Cassidy said that he voted to confirm Kennedy only after “intense conversations” that included Kennedy’s promise to “maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendations without changes.”
Until Kennedy broke that promise, the decision to get a Covid-19 vaccine was an individual choice. To promote public health, the vaccine’s presence on the CDC’s guidance schedule assured that it would be free to those who wanted it.
Now, as with many Trump policies, the cost of a Covid-19 vaccine will hit hardest those adults who can least afford it. But when they don’t get vaccinated, the public at large will bear the consequences: More Americans will be hospitalized with Covid-19 and more will die.
Blame Kennedy, of course, but he is who he always has been. Trump and Senate Republicans—especially Sen. Cassidy—knew it when they gave him the job that is killing us.
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As Subvariant Spreads, CDC Maintains Child Vaccine Guidance Despite RFK Announcement
Experts said the new guidance would likely prevent insurers from refusing to cover the vaccines, but some said mixed messages from the Trump administration could still lead to confusion.
May 30, 2025
Amid reports of a new Covid-19 subvariant spreading in several U.S. states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said updated guidance on receiving vaccines against the coronavirus that contradicted a controversial recent announcement from the nation's top health official.
The CDC's schedule for vaccines for children aged 6 months to 17 years retained the Covid-19 shot, advising parents and doctors to engage in "shared clinical decision-making" when determining if a child should be vaccinated—meaning children can receive the shots if their parents and physicians agree.
That guidance contradicts a statement from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. earlier this week. Kennedy claimed Tuesday that there was a "lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children" for Covid vaccines as he announced, alongside National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary, that the shots would no longer be recommended for pregnant women or healthy children.
"Where the parent presents with a desire for their child to be vaccinated, children six months and older may receive Covid-19 vaccination, informed by the clinical judgment of a healthcare provider and personal preference and circumstances," the new guidelines read.
"At least how some clinicians perceive it is, 'You guys are the experts, and if you don't know what the right thing to do is, how are we supposed to have that conversation in a 10-minute office visit?'"
Kennedy's announcement earlier this week alarmed public health experts, as did an earlier statement that the vaccines would only be made available to people over age 65 and those with certain medical conditions.
Kennedy, who baselessly called the Covid-19 vaccine "the deadliest ever made" in 2021—when the shots were estimated to have saved 140,000 lives—said at the time that new clinical trials would be needed to see if the vaccines continued to provide protection to people under 65.
Sean O'Leary, the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' infectious disease committee, said the CDC's new guidance could still cause confusion among parents and doctors, compared to an across-the-board recommendation like those that exist for other childhood vaccines.
"At least how some clinicians perceive it is, 'You guys are the experts, and if you don't know what the right thing to do is, how are we supposed to have that conversation in a 10-minute office visit?'" O'Leary told The Washington Post.
But the new guidance could stop insurance companies from refusing to cover the shots, as experts were worried they might after Kennedy's earlier statements, and will preserve the shots' availability for about 38 million low-income children who rely on the Vaccines for Children program.
The out-of-pocket cost for a Covid vaccine at a CVS pharmacy—where some patients could opt to go if their doctors don't want to administer the vaccine—is $198.99.
Experts remained concerned on Friday about the CDC's approach to Covid vaccines for pregnant women; the agency said there is officially "no guidance" for people who are pregnant.
Public health experts have warned that research shows pregnant women's risk of death and hospitalization is heightened if they have a Covid infection, and that the illness raises the risk of stillbirth.
The CDC's new guidance—and Kennedy's push to pivot away from Covid vaccines for the general population—come as a new, highly transmissible Covid subvariant has been detected in states including California, Rhode Island, New York, and Washington.
The subvariant, NB.1.8.1, was first detected in January and has been spreading in Europe and Asia since then, with the World Health Organization saying there has been a "concurrent increase in cases and hospitalizations in some countries where NB.1.8.1 is widespread."
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease expert at Stanford University, told The Los Angeles Times that NB.1.8.1 does not cause more severe illness, "but it is more transmissible, at least from what we’re seeing around the world and also from lab experiments."
Meanwhile, Kennedy's push to reduce the availability of vaccines is "kind of chilling," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of the University of California, San Francisco, told the Times. "It's out of step with the system we've learned to trust and follow... Most people would agree that kids should be targeted for flu vaccines. It seems kind of weird to have Covid as an outlier in that respect."
O'Leary said in a statement that despite the Trump administration's recent statements, scientific data about the vaccines is clear.
"Pregnant women, infants, and young children are at higher risk of hospitalization from Covid," he said, "and the safety of the Covid vaccine has been widely demonstrated."
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RFK Says US Will No Longer Recommend Covid Shot for Healthy Children and Pregnant People
"With Covid still circulating, pregnant women and their babies who are born too young to be vaccinated are going to be at risk for Covid and for the severe complications," said one doctor.
May 27, 2025
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will cease recommending the Covid-19 vaccine for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women."
As of Tuesday, Covid vaccines for those two groups are no longer a part of the CDC recommended immunization schedule, said Kennedy in a video posted to X. In the video, Kennedy stood between National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary.
"We're now one step closer to realizing President [Donald] Trump's promise to make America healthy again," said Kennedy, who has a history of disparaging vaccines and once falsely called the Covid jab the "deadliest vaccine ever made."
"Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another Covid shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children," said Kennedy.
Bhattacharya added: "That ends today. It's common sense and it's good science."
Until the announcement, the CDC had recommended everyone 6 months old and older, including pregnant people, get the vaccine.
According to The Washington Post, the move sidestepped traditional protocol. After a vaccine has the green light from the FDA, it goes to a CDC panel called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for consideration. That panel then holds hearings to determine who should receive the vaccine, how frequently they should receive it, and when, per the Post. The panel sends it recommendation to the CDC director, who can decide to sign off on it, at which point it becomes official policy.
Information that is still currently on the CDC's website states that pregnant people are at heightened risk if they contract Covid-19.
"If you are pregnant or were recently pregnant, you are more likely to get very sick from Covid-19, compared to those who are not pregnant. Additionally, if you have Covid-19 during pregnancy, you are at increased risk of complications that can affect your pregnancy and your baby from serious illness from Covid-19," the webpage states.
Dr. Denise Jamieson, an adviser to the CDC on vaccines who also serves on the immunization committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, also told the New York Times on Tuesday that pregnant people are at heightened risk of becoming severely sickened with Covid.
"With Covid still circulating, pregnant women and their babies who are born too young to be vaccinated are going to be at risk for Covid and for the severe complications," Jamieson told the outlet.
Today RFK and co. removed the COVID vaccine from the CDC's recommended immunization schedule for children and pregnant people. This is junk science. COVID puts children and pregnant people at higher risk for ER visits and hospitalizations, and Long COVID can cause chronic health issues for anyone.
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— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran.com) May 27, 2025 at 12:06 PM
The Times' coverage pointed out that the video did not make it clear whether the vaccine will be offered to children who have never had it before, or whether the states will still be allowed recommend Covid shots.
When it comes to children, Dr. Sean O'Leary, a vaccine expert for the American Academy of Pediatrics, recently told the Times that the hospitalization risk for children who are 6 months old and younger is about the same as the risks faced by people who are ages 65-74, and there is also increased risk of hospitalization for kids up to the age of 2.
Writing on Bluesky, New York Times health journalist Maggie Astor on Tuesday called the move "a huge step" that is "at odds with science showing significant risks for young children and pregnant women—and that directly contradicts the FDA's own publication from last week listing pregnancy as a high-risk condition that would qualify people for this fall's Covid vaccine."
Last week, the FDA announced a plan to restrict access of Covid-19 vaccines. Vinay Prasad, head of the agency's vaccine division, and Makary, the commissioner, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that the vaccine "booster" doses that have been available for the last several years to anyone aged 6 months and older carry "uncertain" benefits for much of the population. The officials said they anticipate the next round of shots will be available only for adults over 65 and those with certain medical conditions.
In the article in the New England Journal of Medicine, pregnancy is listed as a risk factor that would make them eligible to receive a vaccine under the new plan.
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