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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer recommend routine covid shots for healthy children, pregnant women, and director of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“We are now one step closer to realizing @Potus’ promise to make America healthy again,” he said in a post on X.
Kennedy said the vaccine is no longer recommended for “healthy pregnant women,” but it was unclear who would qualify if pregnancy itself was considered a risk factor for COVID complications.
The change from the CDC comes a week after Dr. Marty McCurry, Director of the Food and Drug Administration, announced that he plans to limit the use of Covidshot in elderly people, children and adults with underlying medical conditions.
New Covidshots for healthy children and adults must undergo a long placebo-controlled clinical trial before approval.
Kennedy has a long history of opposition to various vaccines, including Covid Shot. In 2021, he filed a citizen petition requesting the FDA revokes vaccine approval. That same year, he described the Covid vaccine as “the most deadly vaccine ever made” especially for the rare cases of myocarditis in young men. Studies have found that the risk of myocarditis is higher in people with COVID membrane infections and is usually more severe than after vaccination.
Under Kennedy, the FDA slowed down approval for the Novavax shot before approving it earlier this month. With abnormal movements, the FDA has restricted its use to people over the age of 65 and teens and adults who run the risk of severe illness in at least one condition.
No one has a mission to get a community shot.
However, experts say that even those who previously suffered from symbiotic infections may still need another dose, as they are vulnerable to the virus, particularly the elderly, elderly with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women.
At the height of the COVID cooperative pandemic, doctors reported an unprecedented surge in pregnant women hospitalized and at risk after COVID infection.
Changes in the immune system of pregnant women increase the risk of complications such as pneumonia from many respiratory viruses, including covid. Last month, researchers at Brown University School of Public Health published a survey that saw a surge in mother deaths when the pandemic hit.
Although cases of symbiotics, including related hospitalizations and deaths, are currently low, the virus is still circulating.
“We’ve seen a lot of trouble with our children,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Pennsylvania Children’s Hospital. “Do they think it’s not worth preventing?”
The CDC previously had fully recommended the Covid vaccine for everyone over six months.
“One of the things I relied on as a pediatrician was the assurance that the recommendations that came to me were based on the science and evidence available and that they came from the work of a CDC expert,” said Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “It’s very concerning because this clearly doesn’t come from that direction. ”
Will you be able to get a Covid shot this fall?
There is concern between infectious diseases and vaccine experts about whether the Covid vaccine will be available in the fall. In 2024, the booster was approved by August and became widely available by October.
The FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee met Thursday to make recommendations to include stocks in the next shot. Summer waves have been occurring every year since 2020 and have since risen again in the fall and winter, typical flu seasons.
There are no signs that the US is in the waves this summer, but experts are keeping an eye on the latest variant called Lp.8.1.
The variant is a derivative of Omicron. In February, the World Health Organization said it was monitoring Lp.8.1. As of May 10th, it accounted for 70% of Covid cases in the US. The CDC was expected to make the May 24th variant more up to date, but hasn’t done so yet.
The WHO is also monitoring another variant NB.1.8.1 reported in several states.
The expected development of this fall shot could be at risk after bringing a major change in how vaccines are tested under guidance from Kennedy and McCurry.
Under changes by Kennedy, all new vaccines will need to take placebo-controlled clinical trials to compare results, and others get inactive like saline to get results.
The original Covid vaccine from Pfizer and Modern, approved in late 2020, took a placebo-controlled trial.
When will the Covid booster be available?
If the FDA considers the Pfizer and Moderna updated vaccines as “new” products and requires fresh testing, it is very unlikely that a very unlikely dose will collapse for anyone, including seniors and severe immunodeficiency.
How much does Covid Shots cost?
CDC recommendations are important as they guide insurers that have vaccines cover patients for free.
According to the CDC vaccine price list, Pfizer and Moderna are charging up to $150 per dose of the Covid vaccine. The agency has not listed the costs of the Novavax vaccine, which was fully approved earlier this month.
Medicare and Medicaid are requiring that the vaccine is free to patients. The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, requires private insurance companies to cover all vaccines recommended by the CDC’s Vaccine Commission and Director.
Children without insurance can get free vaccines through the government-run Vaccine for Children program. However, massive cuts to healthcare funding announced in March have forced some local and state health departments to fire staff and cancel vaccine clinics.
If the CDC stops recommending the Covid vaccine to children or pregnant women, will private insurance or Medicaid continue to cover the costs of the new booster?
“It’s going to be a string of events,” Offit said. “Insurers may not pay that. Vaccines for children’s programs may not pay that, but they are therefore more expensive, less used and less used.”
This story first appeared on nbcnews.com. More from NBC News:
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