The medical community is waging a public relations fight against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued more expansive COVID recommendations for children than the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), underscoring the growing breakdown in cooperation between doctors and federal health authorities. Parents trying to navigate these recommendations face an increasingly complicated array of recommendations.
The CDC recommends shared decision-making with doctors for children 6 months to 11 years old who are not immunocompromised, effectively leaving it up to parents. However, the Food and Drug Administration last month only approved the Moderna COVID-19 shot for kids with an underlying condition, complicating access for healthy children. The AAP guidance, like the CDC, advises shared decision-making for most children but recommends COVID-19 vaccines for additional at-risk groups, including people who have never received a vaccine or who live with others at high risk of severe COVID.
Kennedy fired an opening salvo in the fight over COVID-19 recommendations earlier this year when the CDC announced it would no longer recommend the COVID-19 shot for healthy children, citing a lack of clinical data to justify annual immunizations. Other prominent physicians’ groups welcomed AAP’s guidance, stating that it is critical that the public and healthcare professionals have access to credible, trustworthy information about immunizations in order to make informed decisions about how to protect themselves and their loved ones. Supporters of Kennedy’s decision argue that not recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children falls in line with the current evidence and other guidance around the world.
