(Reuters) -The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children, according to its latest published immunization schedule.
The schedule, published late on Thursday, comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and heads of the FDA and the National Institutes of Health said on Tuesday the CDC would stop recommending routine COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women.
The makers of COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. — Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The CDC, following its panel of outside experts, previously recommended updated COVID-19 vaccines for everyone aged six months and older, and current recommendations are in line with those made before.
On Tuesday, the Infectious Diseases Society of America said stopping the recommendation “does the opposite of what Americans have been asking for when it comes to their health — it takes away choices and will negatively impact them.” It added infants and children may “develop severe disease and may suffer from prolonged symptoms due to long COVID, which can negatively impact their development.”
Nearly 1,900 children up to 18 years of age died of COVID-19 in the U.S. as per CDC’s estimates last updated in 2023.
Traditionally, the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices would meet and vote on changes to the immunization schedule or recommendations on who should get vaccines before the agency’s director made a final call. The committee had not voted on these changes announced by Kennedy.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Shounak Dasgupta)
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