RFK Jr. Axes COVID Vaccines For Pregnant Women, Healthy Kids

On Tuesday (May 27), Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. He did so in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, alongside National Institute of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattarchaya and Food and Drug Administration head Dr. Marty Makary - excluding anyone representing the Centers For Disease Control, who maintain the list of vaccines for those groups.

Officials for the CDC would refer press inquiries about the decision to the HHS. The decision has caused considerable concern from medical experts who point to the lack of open debate and that the CDC and the FDA processes which would be required before such a decision was made, was bypassed according to reporting from The Guardian. It also comes as a new COVID-19 variant, N.B.1.8.1, has broken out in Asia with cases being reported in New York and other parts of the United States.

The news also comes a week after Makary co-wrote an article in the New England Journal describing pregnancy and recent pregnancy as "underlying medical conditions that can increase a person's risk of severe Covid-19". Concerning healthy children, while there are a few physicians who agree with Kennedy's decision, there is data that shows that even children without pre-existing conditions who contract COVID-19 are at high risk of getting seriously sick and dying. A report of data related to 183 pediatric deaths from COVID showed that 32 percent did not have another medical condition. There are also concerns of Long COVID symptoms arising in children who've had COVID-19, including cases of myocarditis or enlargement of the heart (which Kennedy falsely claims is a result of the vaccine).

"Kennedy's unilateral decision to change the CDC's recommended immunization schedule for COVID-19 vaccines demonstrates once again why he is completely unqualified to be the HHS secretary," said Public Citizen Research Director Dr Robert Steinbrook in a statement. "In Congressional testimony on May 14, Kennedy said, 'I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.' Yet two weeks later he is making arbitrary public health decisions, defying norms, and with no accountability." Kennedy had testified before being confirmed as HHS Secretary that he wouldn't make any modifications to the vaccine schedule.






via: https://hiphopwired.com/2722013/rfk-jr-axes-covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-healthy-kids/