HHS Secretary Kennedy: CDC Is Changing COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is changing its recommendations regarding who should get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Kennedy announced the move Tuesday on X, saying, “I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule.”

BREAKING: The COVID vax is OFFICIALLY REMOVED from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for healthy kids and pregnant women. pic.twitter.com/D3vJFhkCsX

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 27, 2025

Kennedy appeared alongside the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to announce the changes to the CDC’s vaccine guidance program.

The HHS Secretary had been working with advisers to find a way to narrow the recommendations of who should receive the COVID vaccine to older adults and individuals with an underlying condition that put them at higher risk of severe illness from the coronavirus.

The CDC’s vaccination guidance is sometimes directly tied to what insurance companies are required to cover as well as liability protections.

Removing healthy children and pregnant women from the CDC’s recommendations for the COVID shot could mean that some of those patients who choose to get the COVID vaccine will have to cover the costs themselves.

The COVID vaccine has faced growing criticism since it was released in late 2020 after being created in record time under President Trump’s Warp Speed program.

Under the Biden administration, the vaccine and its boosters were strenuously pushed on the American public through mandates and promises that it would prevent individuals from getting infected or spreading the virus.

Those promises fell flat to the degree that the CDC had to change the definition of “vaccine” because even those who were vaccinated and boosted still ended up getting infected.

The CDC had to change the definition of “vaccine” just days after FDA approval because it didn’t provide immunity against COVID. pic.twitter.com/RfuJxJHiUP

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 11, 2023

Both Bhattacharya and Makary were supportive of the changes in the CDC recommendations with Bhattacharya stating, “It’s common sense and it’s good science.”

Makary added, “There’s no evidence healthy kids need it today and most countries have stopped recommending it for children.”