The nation's top public health agency posted new recommendations that say healthy children and pregnant women may get COVID-19 vaccinations, removing stronger language that those groups should get the shots.
The change comes days after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.
But the updated guidance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website sends a more nuanced message, saying shots “may” be given to those groups.
Dr. Megan Ranney, the dean of Yale's School of Public Health, says healthy people who are pregnant should still get routine COVID-19 vaccinations.
“Pregnancy is a time that is high risk for severe COVID infections, for hospitalization and even for death,” Ranney said.
“Pregnancy changes your immune system. It changes your respiratory function, and there is a reason that countries across the globe continue to recommend COVID vaccination during pregnancy,” she said.
Anyone older than 65, or people with high risk conditions like cancer, should also receive the COVID vaccine booster every six months, Ranney said.
On Thursday, the CDC said that shots may be given to children ages 6 months to 17 years who do not have moderate or severe problems with their immune systems. Instead of recommending the shots, the CDC now says parents may decide to get their children vaccinated in consultation with a doctor.
“The old COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children under 18 and for pregnant women have been removed from the CDC vaccine schedule,” a HHS spokesperson said in a statement. “The CDC and HHS encourage individuals to talk with their healthcare provider about any personal medical decision."
But Ranney said those new guidelines on vaccinating children are also confusing.
“Many of us have said for years that kids getting a COVID booster is up to the parents and up to the doctor,” Ranney said. “But what's clear is that the first time that kids get COVID, it can be really serious, and so that primary vaccine series, there's still pretty strong evidence for, and I'm hoping that that will be clarified by the CDC in coming days.”
A CDC advisory panel is set to meet in June to make recommendations about the fall shots. Among its options are suggesting shots for high-risk groups but still giving lower-risk people the choice to get vaccinated. A committee work group has endorsed the idea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
