Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Keeps Covid Shot Option Available For Healthy Children
The New York Times: CDC Issues New Advice On Covid Vaccines For Children That Contradicted RFK Jr.
Days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that Covid shots would be removed from the federal immunization schedule for children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated advice that largely countered Mr. Kennedy’s new policy. The agency kept Covid shots on the schedule for healthy children 6 months to 17 years old, but added 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.” (Jewett, 5/30)
The Baltimore Sun: Makary Clarifies Trump Administration's Position On COVID-19 Vaccines
Dr. Marty Makary, the Johns Hopkins surgeon and professor whom President Donald Trump tapped to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, says it’s up to patients and their doctors whether they should get the COVID-19 vaccine — not the federal government. Makary stood alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier in the week as the controversial Health and Human Services secretary announced changes to COVID-19 recommendations. (Woodall, 6/1)
KFF Health News: RFK Jr. Says Healthy Pregnant Women Don’t Need Covid Boosters. What The Science Says
You’re pregnant, healthy, and hearing mixed messages: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is not a scientist or doctor, says you don’t need the covid vaccine, but experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Protection still put you in a high-risk group of people who ought to receive boosters. The science is on the side of the shots. (Fortiér, 6/2)
MedPage Today: Experts Blast HHS Leaders For Defying Norms, Sidelining CDC
Experts lamented the way Trump administration officials are shunning long-standing processes for making decisions about vaccines and health agency policy. They've seen two clear examples of standards being tossed in the past 2 weeks alone. The first was when FDA officials announced a new strategy for approving COVID shots. The other was when the HHS secretary declared that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID shots for kids and pregnant women. (Fiore, 5/30)
More vaccine news —
NBC News: FDA Grants Limited Approval To New Covid Vaccine From Moderna
Moderna announced this weekend that the Food and Drug Administration approved its lower-dose Covid-19 vaccine for adults 65 and older, as well as people ages 12 to 64 with at least one medical condition that increases their risk for severe Covid. The approval, which is limited to individuals who have previously received a Covid vaccine, was granted by the FDA on Friday. (Bendix, 6/1)
Stat: Activists Upend MRNA Biotech Advance With Political Power
mRNA, a Nobel-winning technology harnessed by Trump officials to create Covid shots in record time, is becoming a political reject as the nation’s leaders openly embrace vaccine skepticism. Republican lawmakers and federal health officials alike are shunning messenger RNA, a basic building block of biology that proved its value during Covid, and that holds promise for combating the next pandemic and unlocking new cancer treatments. (Lawrence and Cueto, 6/2)
