Kennedy tilts Covid vaccination for children: Warning experts!

Kennedy tilts Covid vaccination for children: Warning experts!

On May 30, 2025, US Health Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a video of May 27 that the CDC recommendations for covid-19 vaccinations in healthy children and pregnant women will be withdrawn. Kennedy was accompanied by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and NIH director Jay Bhattcharya. The exact implications of the revocation as to whether it refers to first vaccinations, booster vaccinations or both remain unclear.

On the website of the Ministry of Health, however, it continues to emphasize that Covid 19 vaccines are available for people from six months and that vaccination is the best protection against COVID-19. A CDC document from January 7 had advocated broad vaccinations. Experts are concerned that the new politics could endanger the vaccination campaigns and lead to avoidable diseases. There are reports of low vaccination rates: only 13 % of children and 14.4 % of the pregnant women are currently vaccinated.

expert opinions and risks

Kennedy expressed concerns about the clinical data for vaccine boosters in children. While the Advisory Committee recommended annual booster, no new clinical studies were required for every vaccine. Makary said there was no evidence that healthy children need vaccination, a statement that some experts questioned. During the Covid 19 season 2024-25, children and adolescents made about 4 % of the COVID 19-associated hospital recordings, with the rates of under six months the highest.

COVID-19 was one of the ten most common causes of death in children from 2020 to 2022. Long-term consequences such as Long Covid and the Pediatric Inflammatory MultiSystem Syndromes (PIMs) could be a challenge, especially in children. Experts fear that Long Covid's incidents could be significant among children, especially since symptoms such as exhaustion and breathing difficulties occur frequently.

international reactions to the vaccination recommendations

According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 vaccinations for children with health risks are still to be recommended, but not for already vaccinated children. In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, only older people or those with specific health conditions will be for refreshment.

Kennedy is also criticized for his deviating view of the vaccination of pregnant women, since many experts point out that vaccinations protect both mothers and the infants. An assessment from 2024 showed that fully vaccinated pregnant women had a 61 % less probability to develop covid-19 during pregnancy.

challenges in vaccine development

In addition to the current discussion about COVID-19 vaccines, there are concerns about organic security due to the dwindling availability of mRNA vaccines, especially for the H5N1 bird flu vaccine. In the United States, mild bird flu broke out this year, but no people concerned. The US Ministry of Health has signed a contract with Moderna over $ 760 million for a bird flu vaccine, which reinforces the pressure on mRNA vaccine developments.

Skepticism towards mRNA vaccines grows, which is also proven by draft laws in at least seven states that either want to ban or restrict them. It is required that health authorities can react better to new pathogens, especially in view of impending challenges such as the available infrastructure, which is already weakened by budgetary reductions.

The withdrawal of vaccination recommendations and the existing uncertainty bring a variety of challenges for doctors and patients with themselves, especially at a time when the opponents are increasingly gaining influence. While the vaccination campaigns and medical infrastructure are under pressure, the health of the population could be at stake.

For further information and specific details on Long Covid and the effects of pandemic on children and adolescents, consult the pages of the RKI, and for current developments to vaccine, visit Al Jazera and Forbes.

Sources: Forbes , rki .