By CHRISTINA JEWETT NYTimes News Service
Share this story

Days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID-19 shots would be removed from the federal immunization schedule for children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated advice that largely counters Kennedy’s new policy.

The agency kept COVID shots on the schedule for children 6 months to 17 years old with a new condition: Children and their caregivers will be able to get the vaccines in consultation with a doctor or provider, which the agency calls “shared decision-making.”

ADVERTISING

The shots will also continue to be available under those terms to about 38 million low-income children who rely on the Vaccines for Children program, according to an emailed update from the CDC on Friday.

However, the picture is less certain now for pregnant women, a group the CDC had considered to be at high risk for a bad outcome from the virus. The official CDC position for pregnant women is “no guidance,” according to a communication released from the agency Friday. Kennedy’s pronouncement Tuesday had included a decision to drop the recommendation for pregnant women to receive COVID shots.

The CDC’s new guidance on pregnant women is a troubling turn of events for experts familiar with research showing that their risk of stillbirth, hospitalization and death rises if they have COVID.

Dr. Michelle Fiscus, a pediatrician and chief medical officer with the Association of Immunization Managers, said that based on federal health officials’ statements in recent days, she had expected to see a recommendation for pregnant women to get the vaccine if they had an additional condition putting them at high risk.

Days ago, the recommendation from the CDC was that everyone 6 months or older should get the COVID vaccine. Now, the advice is that children “may” get the shot, but there is no longer any guidance for pregnant women.

In a statement, Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Health and Human Services, carefully walked back Kennedy’s pronouncement about removing the vaccines from the recommended schedule of shots children should receive.

“The old COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children under 18 and for pregnant women have been removed from the CDC vaccine schedule,” the statement said.