HHS Will Stop Recommending COVID Vaccines for Kids, Teens and Pregnant Women, WSJ Reports

U.S.

8 hours ago

Originally posted by: Children's Health Defense

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to stop recommending that pregnant women, children and teens routinely take the COVID-19 vaccine, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all children ages 6 months and up get the COVID-19 shot. The COVID-19 vaccine is also one of four vaccines recommended for pregnant women.

The CDC is expected to change its recommendations in the coming days, unnamed sources told the WSJ. Spokespeople for HHS, CDC and the White House did not respond to requests for confirmation by the WSJ Thursday, or The Defender today.

The WSJ said it wasn’t clear if the department was planning to remove the recommendation or advise patients to discuss the risks and benefits with their doctors.

Assuming the WSJ report is accurate, the shift will coincide with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) plan to launch a new framework for approving vaccines, the report said.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said Thursday, “I am not encouraging or insisting young, healthy children to get a Covid shot unless there is new evidence that emerges that suggests there is a clear benefit,” the WSJ reported.

A change in COVID-19 vaccine recommendations would mark a major departure from CDC policy over the last four years. However, it would be aligned with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long-held position that the COVID-19 vaccines pose serious safety risks for everyone, including children.

Critics of the COVID-19 vaccines welcomed the news, with most calling it “long overdue.” They also called for further and immediate action by the public health agencies.

Children’s Health Defense (CHD) CEO Mary Holland told The Defender:

“CHD has opposed the COVID shot recommendation for children since the beginning. And this is just the start of a critical reassessment of all childhood vaccines based on real science.”

Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who has published extensively on the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccine, said:

“Two presidents, three HHS Secretaries, three FDA Commissioners, and nearly five years into the disastrous COVID-19 vaccine debacle, women and children receive long overdue yet welcome news.

“After record vaccine injuries, disabilities, and death, America is wondering will any of these leaders be held accountable? If I were in any one of these power positions, the entire vaccine program would have been shut down in December of 2020 saving hundreds thousands of American lives.”

HHS’ shift is aligned with a broader movement seeking accountability for the harms caused by the vaccines and for an end to the mRNA injections, according to epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher. Eleven states have launched legislative efforts to ban the vaccines. Tens of thousands of doctors, scientists, citizens and politicians have called for the withdrawal of the COVID-19 vaccines from the market altogether.

The shots posed known dangers to children — ‘the fight is far from over’

Even at the height of the pandemic, experts agreed that children were at extremely low risk from COVID-19. It was also revealed soon after the shots were authorized that they were linked to myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly for young people, in addition to many other risks.

Yet, the public health agencies authorized the shot for people ages 16 and up from the start, and expanded that authorization to 12-year-olds by May of 2021. The FDA authorized the drug for children ages 5 and up in October 2021, and for babies 6 months and older in June 2022.

Even though the COVID-19 vaccine never received FDA approval for children under age 12 — it remains under emergency use authorization — the CDC added COVID-19 vaccination in February 2023 to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults after a unanimous recommendation from the agency’s advisory committee.

Earlier this week, Dr. Kat Lindley, one of the organizers of the “Smart Moms Ask” campaign, mobilizing mothers to demand that federal health agencies take the COVID-19 shots off the childhood vaccine schedule, said the decision is “a triumph for the parents who have been fighting for their children. When moms/parents unite with the independent physicians, we will move the mountains and protect our children.”

Lindley said she wants to see the actual order from HHS, because “it will tell us the intentions of this administration.” She added, “This fight is far from over. We need absolute informed consent going forward and to remove the recommendations for all ages.”

Pediatrician Dr. Samara Cardenas also said it was important to see the actual announcement, which has not yet been made. Waiting so long to make this change was not appropriate, she added, because “children’s lives are at stake.”

Pediatrician and CEO of GMO Science, Dr. Michelle Perro, told The Defender the long-overdue development shows that public health policy can adapt to align with current scientific understanding.

“My recommendation is that the HHS go further and put into motion that the FDA holds all mRNA genetic immunomodulators for children,” Perro said. “The jabs have been shown to be contaminated with undetermined DNA fragments which can affect our children’s genetics, and are responsible for a myriad of serious, complex, chronic diseases.”

ACOG doubles down on support for COVID vaccines for pregnant women

Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, told The Defender that the announcement was welcome news. However, she said, “It is also maddeningly late action from any administration, since we knew from July 2021, as I warned then, that mRNA injections were damaging fertility.”

Wolf added:

“Since 2023, we knew, via my team of WarRoom/DailyClout researchers using the Pfizer documents, that the injections damage the hearts of healthy minors, kill fetuses and babies in utero, block women’s ovaries, and never stopped COVID in the first place.

“The next immediate step should be the withdrawal of these deadly injections from the market and the reversal of the PREP Act [Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act], so legal actions can commence against manufacturers and officials who enabled this catastrophe.”

Daily Clout’s analysis of the Pfizer clinical trials showed the shots were linked to miscarriages and preterm births. Pfizer’s pregnancy and lactation report also detailed extensive side effects for nursing babies, including fever, vomiting and edema, or swollen tissue, among many other issues.

Pfizer sent that report to the FDA on April 20, 2021. Three days later, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky gave a White House press conference, during which she told women there was no bad time to get a COVID-19 shot — before, during or after pregnancy.

Medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have been strong supporters of vaccination for children and pregnant women, with their recommendations typically corresponding to the CDC’s.

The Defender inquired whether the organizations planned to change their recommendations in light of HHS’ anticipated policy change.

Dr. Christopher Zahn, ACOG’s chief of clinical practice, told The Defender his organization is aware of discussions at the CDC about universal versus risk-based COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, but that no “changes in the actual clinical recommendations” have been put in place as of yet.

Zahn added:

“ACOG’s evidence-based recommendation that all pregnant women be vaccinated against COVID-19 is still in place.

“Pregnant individuals are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 infection, which can make them more susceptible to pregnancy complications and even death. COVID-19 vaccination remains the best way for them to protect themselves and their pregnancy.”

The AAP did not respond to The Defender by the deadline.

Approximately 14% of pregnant women and 13% of children have received an updated shot as of April 26, according to the CDC.

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