The covid-19 vaccine will no longer be recommended for pregnant women and healthy children, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday.

Kennedy announced the update in a video posted to the social media platform X, alongside Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

“As of today, the covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,” Kennedy said. “Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another covid shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.

“We’re now one step closer to realizing President Trump’s promise to make America healthy again.”

Supporting Kennedy, Bhattacharya said, “It’s common sense, and it’s good science.”

Makary said there is no evidence healthy children need the vaccine.

“Most countries have stopped recommending it for children,” he said.

Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from @CDCgov recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/Ytch2afCLP

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) May 27, 2025

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease specialist, disagreed with Kennedy’s recommendations.

“These are bad recommendations that no one should follow,” Adalja said Tuesday. “This decision should be viewed exclusively as the actions of a nihilistic anti-vaccine advocacy who unfortunately has the ability to wield government power.”

Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said pregnancy is a high-risk condition for covid and healthy children benefit from initial covid vaccines.

The recommendation comes just one week after the Trump administration limited access to covid-19 shots for healthy adults and children.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel is set to meet in June to make recommendations about the fall shots. Among its options are suggesting shots for high-risk groups but still giving lower-risk people the choice to get vaccinated.

Among the confusion created by Tuesday’s announcement, experts said, is the implication that the coronavirus isn’t dangerous to pregnant women.

During the height of the pandemic, deaths of women during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth soared to their highest level in 50 years. Indeed, pregnancy was on the list of health conditions that would qualify someone for a covid-19 vaccination under FDA’s new guidance “framework” announced last week.

Vaccination has been recommended for pregnant women, in part, because it’s a way to pass immunity to newborns who are too young for vaccines and are vulnerable to infections.

“To say that they are not at any risk is simply incorrect,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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