US drops Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for healthy children, pregnant women
'The recommendation is coming down from the secretary, so the process has just been turned upside down,' said William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre and a consultant to the Acip.
Schaffner said the CDC's panel was to vote on these issues at a June meeting, where he had expected them to favour more targeted shots instead of a universal vaccine recommendation, 'but this seems to be a bit preemptory'.
Dorit Reiss, professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, said in a Facebook post going around the advisory committee might hurt the agency in the case of potential litigation.
Studies with hundreds of thousands of people around the world show Covid-19 vaccination before and during pregnancy is safe, effective and beneficial to the pregnant woman and the baby, according to the CDC's website.
But Makary said in the video there was no evidence that healthy children need routine Covid-19 shots. Most countries have stopped recommending it for children, he added.
Covid-19 vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment.
Dr Cody Meissner, professor of paediatrics at Dartmouth, who co-wrote an editorial with Makary during the Covid-19 pandemic against masks for children, said he agreed with the decision.
He believed the US had been overemphasising the importance of the Covid-19 vaccine for young children and pregnant women and previous recommendations were based on politics, adding the severity of the illness generated by the virus seems to have lessened over time in young children.
Reuters
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