The United States ceases to approve photos COVID-19 for children-are other vaccines then then?

One of the best vaccine experts in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, resigned on June 4 – a week after Robert F Kennedy JR announced that COVVI -19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for most children and pregnancies.

The announcement triggered several days of confusion around who will have access to COVVI-19 vaccines in the United States in the future. In practice, there was no radical change to access, although there will probably be new obstacles for parents who hope to vaccinate their children. However, Kennedy’s announcement indicates a disturbing bypass of public health standards.

“My career in public health and vaccinology began with a deeply assisted desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and this is not something that I am able to continue to play in this role,” Panagiotakopoulos said in an email to colleagues obtained by Reuters.

Panagiotakopoulos supported the Vaccination Practices Advisory Committee (APIP), which has advised the CDC on vaccine recommendations since 1964. But last week Kennedy – the highest classified public health official of the country – has turned this precedent of several decades. “I could not be happier to announce that, from today, the vaccine covids for healthy children and the healthy pregnant woman has been removed from the vaccination calendar recommended by the CDC,” he said in a video published on the social media platform X on May 27.

Despite its directive, the CDC has so far made only minor modifications to its advice on COVVI-19 vaccines. Instead of recommending them squarely for children, he now recommends vaccination “based on shared clinical decision -making”. In other words, parents should speak with a doctor before deciding. It is not clear how it will affect access to these vaccines in each scenario, but it could make children more difficult for children in pharmacies.

CDC directives on vaccination during pregnancy are also ambiguous. Although his website always recommends a COVVI-19 shot during pregnancy, a note at the top says: “This page will be updated to align with the updated vaccination calendar.”

Kennedy’s announcement also contradicts the positions of major public health organizations. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (APP) came out in opposite.

“The CDC and the HHS encourage individuals to speak with their health care provider of any personal medical decision,” said HHS spokesperson New scientist. “Under the direction of secretary Kennedy, HHS restores the doctor-patient relationship.”

However, Linda Eckert at Washington University in Seattle says that contradictory messages are confused for people. “This opens up opportunities for disinformation. This undermines confidence in vaccination in general, “she says. “I cannot imagine that this will not decrease the immunization rates.”

Research has repeatedly shown COVVI-19 vaccination in adolescence and pregnancy is safe and effective. In fact, Martin Makary, the leader of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), listed pregnancy as a serious risk factor a week before Kennedy’s announcement, more allegedly from the government’s public health mail.

Kennedy’s announcement is in accordance with the coastal policies of certain other countries. For example, Australia and the United Kingdom do not recommend COVVI-19 vaccines for children unless they risk serious illness. They also do not recommend COVVI-19 vaccination during pregnancy if someone is already vaccinated.

Asma Khalil, a member of the British joint committee on vaccination and immunization, said that the United Kingdom’s decision was based on the reduced risk of the Omicron variant, the profitability of vaccination and high population immunity. However, these factors may vary from country to country. The British population also tends to have better access to health care than the United States, explains Eckert. “These decisions must carefully consider the risks and benefits relating to the national population,” explains Khalil. The HHS did not respond New scientistwonders if a similar analysis guided Kennedy’s decision -making.

What is perhaps the most disturbing, however, is Kennedy’s announcement previous. The AIPI – an independent group of public health experts – was to vote on changes offered to the recommendations of the COVVI -19 vaccine later this month. But Kennedy’s decision has circumvented this process.

“This style of decision -making – by individuals compared to experts who are carefully verified for conflicts of interest, who carefully watch the data – this has never happened in our country,” explains Eckert. “We are in an unexplored territory.” It fears the move could open the way to Kennedy to exhaust other vaccine recommendations. “I know there are a lot of vaccines against which he was actively in his career,” she said. Kennedy previously blamed vaccines for autism and falsely said that the polio vaccine caused more death than it avoided.

“What he is talking about is the fact that [Kennedy] Does not see value in these vaccines and will do everything he can to try to devalue them in the mind of the public and make them more difficult to receive, “explains Amesh Adalja at Johns Hopkins University.