Covid vaccine to be SCRAPPED for millions in major Trump health shakeup

Covid vaccines are set to no longer be routinely recommended for pregnant women, teenagers and children in the US, reports suggest.

Robert F Kennedy Jr's Department of Health and Human Services is expected to scrap the CDC's recommendation for those groups in the coming days — sources told the Wall Street Journal.

DailyMail.com revealed in February how several members of Trump's administration were pushing for tighter restrictions on the Covid vaccine.

At present, the CDC recommends everyone six months and older, including pregnant women, receive the Covid vaccine.

But the recommendation for young and healthy individuals has long been criticized, given the groups face a low risk of hospitalization and death from the virus.

There are concerns over side-effects linked to the shots, including myocarditis — or heart inflammation — which is rare, but slightly more common among young adults.

There have also been concerns pregnant women are not benefiting from the vaccine, although studies show it is safe for the group and doesn't raise their risk of miscarriage, stillbirth or birth defects.

It was not immediately clear whether the recommendation for those groups to get the Covid vaccine would be removed completely or updated just to say patients should consult with their doctors.

RFK Jr has long targeted Covid vaccines, filing a petition with the FDA in 2021 — six months after the rollout began — to have their use suspended.

His circle also includes a number of individuals who have been critical of the shots.

Dr Jay Bhattacharya, who has been nominated to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has previously backed a petition calling for the mRNA vaccines to be paused and retested.

While Dr Aseem Malholtra, a British cardiologist named to a major health advisory role in the Trump administration, has called for the vaccines to also be suspended and reassessed.

The new FDA commissioner, Dr Marty Makary, has said he would not be 'encouraging or insisting young, healthy children get a Covid shot unless there is new evidence that emerges that suggests there is a clear benefit'.

DailyMail.com has contacted the HHS for comment.

As HHS Secretary, RFK Jr does have the legal power to change the CDC's vaccine recommendations.

In a fiery exchange in the Senate yesterday, he insisted Americans had lost faith in federal vaccine guidance — and accused public officials of lying about vaccines for 'year after year after year'.

In addition to reported changes in vaccine recommendations, the FDA is also planning to roll out a new framework for vaccine approvals next week.

Dr Makary revealed the plan last week to a conference room of food and drug lawyers. He didn't give details, but suggested that it might involve vaccine manufacturers submitting more data to the FDA.

The US is an outlier on its Covid vaccine recommendations, with other countries — including the UK — now only recommending the shots to seniors 75 years and older, people in care homes and those with a weakened immune system.

Pregnant women were also previously recommended the Covid vaccine in the UK, but this was dropped this year after studies did not show a clear cost-benefit.

The World Health Organization recommends everyone six months and over and pregnant women receive one dose of the Covid vaccine.

Covid vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalization and death, particularly among older adults who have a weaker immune system.

Some medical experts have, however, questioned the routine use of the vaccine in healthy young individuals, noting their risk of severe illness from the virus is already very low.

Most people in the US are currently not receiving the Covid vaccine.

Latest data shows since the start of this year's flu season, only 23 percent of adults aged 18 years and over received the updated Covid vaccine. Among people under 18, 13 percent received the updated shot.

At the same time, uptake of other vaccinations — including the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot — has dipped in the US, which experts say is behind the major outbreak that now risks the country losing its measles elimination status.

During his first term, President Donald Trump spearheaded the development of the Covid shots in record time, which was widely regarded as a major medical breakthrough.

The mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna are estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives globally, including at least 3million in the US.

But in recent years, Trump has been reluctant to take credit for the achievement, for fear of alienating his core voter base, which has become skeptical of the shots.

He has signaled his support for other vaccines, however, including the polio vaccine — which he praised previously as the 'greatest thing' and said he was a 'big believer' in.

The Covid vaccines have been linked to a small risk of heart damage and Guillain-Barre syndrome, where the immune system attacks nerves, causing pain, fatigue and numbness.

Data from the US Covid vaccine injury compensation program suggested that 14,000 people had filed claims for injury or death they say were caused by the Covid vaccine as of December 2024, out of the 270million Americans who have received at least one dose of the vaccine.