Why experts post new advice on boost for healthy children, pregnant people

The American Department of Health and Social Services announced this week that it will no longer recommend COVVI-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant.

The change was shared in a Video published on X by HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Alongside Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PHD, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Martin Makary, MD, MPH, Commissioner of Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The vaccine has been removed from centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) Recommended vaccination calendar For these groups, said Kennedy.

The HHS has developed this decision as “one more step towards the realization of the promise of President Trump to make America again healthy” – but experts argue that the risks of covid for pregnant and healthy children remain higher than for healthy adults.

According to Kennedy, there is a lack of clinical data to support the effectiveness of repeated whistle boosters in children. Makery also said that other countries also canceled the recommendations for the children's vaccine.

The HHS team, however, did not explain the decision of pregnant people in the video.

“With the cocovio-19 cochemiah behind us, it's time to move forward,” said a hhs spokesperson Health. “HHS and CDC remain attached to the science of gold standards and to ensure the health and well -being of all Americans – especially children in our country – using common sense.”

The news follows an announcement of the FDA for more strict requirements on boosters wearing for healthy Americans under 65 years of age. Companies will now have to provide randomized controlled trial data to show the effectiveness of the cliché for this group, which makes boosters unlikely to ever reach the market.

For the elderly 65 years and overor those more than 6 months with at least one risk factor for severe cocovanVaccine recommendations have not changed. The FDA plans to approve a reminder this year for these high -risk groups.

Where it becomes confusing: “Recent pregnancy or pregnancy” is on the list of severe covid risk factors, suggesting that pregnant people are eligible for a vaccine, but the new change seems to replace these tips. The HHS spokesman did not respond to a request for comments on this contradiction.

THE American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Criticized the decision to remove the vaccine recommendation coded for pregnant people.

“ACOG is concerned about and extremely disappointed with the announcement that HHS will no longer recommend COVVI-19 vaccination during pregnancy”, ” Steven J. Fleischman, MDSaid the president of the Ob-Gyn and the ACOG, in a statement.

“As an ob-gyns who treat the patients every day, we have seen in the first hand how dangerous covid-19 can be during pregnancy and for newborns who depend on maternal antibodies in the protection vaccine,” added Fleischman. “THE The COVVI-19 vaccine is sure during pregnancyAnd vaccination can protect our patients and their infants after birth. »»

Fleischman cited CDC data showing high cocoan hospitalization rates in infants under 6 months of age – too young to be immune to themselves. The majority of these cases involve children born Non -vaccinated mothers.

For healthy children, the risk of COVIVE serious illness is low but not negligible.

“In general, the Sars-Cov-2 infection is not as serious, fortunately, as we would be worried, but it still causes Hospitalizations and serious illnesses in pediatric patients, ” Andrew Siesenp, MDPediatrician general at the TUFTS Medical Center, said Health.

Sissennop added that he continues to educate parents “on the advantages of vaccination and the severity of certain diseases in this younger population”.

Taylor Heald-Sargent, MD, PHDDeputy Professor of Pediatrics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, added that the cocovid vaccine has proven to be effective in preventing serious illnesses and children in children.

In the meantime, Aaron Milstone, MD, MHSPediatric director of the prevention of infections at the Johns Hopkins Health System and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee of Infectious Diseases, warned that the change could Office of family options.

“We know that healthy children die from cocovi. We know that pregnant women can die of cocovan. … This question with the family is: will you accept this risk? ” said Milstone. “I think that for the moment, we say that parents will not have this choice.”

It also seems that HHS made this decision without contribution from the CDC advisory committee on vaccination practices, a range of independent experts who normally makes vaccine recommendations and should not meet before the end of June.

Despite the policy change, the vaccine Can always be available Healthy children and pregnant people through health care providers who can still order vaccines not listed in the recommended CDC calendar, according to Sissennop.

However, without official recommendation for these groups, vaccine insurance coverage can be an obstacle. Patients could be Obliged to pay from his pocketpotentially limiting access for many.

“For some people, this means that vaccines will become inaccessible,” said Milstone.

Experts are largely suitable that the abolition of vaccination advice coded for pregnant and healthy children May include health risks For both groups – and potentially for public health as a whole.

Maternal and pediatric health leaders Imagine that it is important that families have the choice of being vaccinated, even if the federal government no longer recommend it.

“I think there is a risk [with] These decisions, “said Milstone.” I understand the change in a requirement, but I think that the decision to offer is important and appropriate. “”