RFK Jr. seeks to remove COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for children

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is weighing whether to remove the

COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government's list of recommended vaccines for children

He spoke to Fox News about the potential move last night. President Trump doesn't believe that anybody should get mandatory vaccines

It's a medical intervention. It has risks. People should make that choice for themselves

The COVID vaccine, the recommendation for children, was always dubious. And it was dubious because kids had almost no risk for COVID-19

Some kids, some certain kids that had very profound morbidities may have a slight risk

Most kids don't. So why are we giving this to tens of millions of kids when the vaccine itself does have profound risk

The decision would still leave vaccines available if parents choose to vaccinate their kids for COVID

but it would remove the vaccine from a CDC list recommending parents give their children the shot

As seen here in the child and adolescent immunization schedule, a COVID-19 shot is recommended for babies as young as six months old

The same recommendation, one or more doses spans through 18 years of age, as seen here in the chart

Kennedy has long been vocal against the COVID-19 vaccine dating back to the pandemic years

Specifically, the shot administered to healthy kids. In 2022, when Kennedy was chairman of the Children's Health Defense Organization

he penned a letter to the FDA threatening legal action over the vaccine for kids writing CHD will seek to hold you accountable for recklessly endangering this population with a product that has little no or even negative net efficacy

but which may put them, without warning, at risk of many adverse health consequences

including heart damage, stroke, and other thrombotic events and reproductive harms. According to the CDC's COVID data tracker, here's the number of children who died as a result of COVID as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate

1,100 kids from the age of 0-4 or 0.09% of COVID deaths, 394 kids from the ages of 5-11 or 0.03% of overall deaths, and 639 deaths from the ages of 12-17 or 0.05% of COVID deaths

No schools currently require the COVID-19 shot for kids, and 22 states have banned any COVID-19 shot requirements for kids to attend school

It's unclear the timeline of when the Trump administration may remove the COVID vaccine from the recommended vaccine list for children

Thanks for watching. Our news update also announced this week, RFK Jr. announced eight synthetic dyes will be banned from food and medicine supply in the U.S. by the end of 2026

Our Kennedy Felton covered that announcement, and you can find her full report by downloading the SAN mobile app or visit us online at SAN.com