BREAKING: RFK Jr. May Pull the Covid Shot From the Childhood Vaccine Schedule

Politico is reporting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, is considering a bold move that would take the Covid-19 vaccine out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended schedule for children.

While the final decision is pending, the Trump administration has a unique opportunity to 1. safeguard parental rights 2. re-establish public confidence in health institutions and 3. align public policy with scientific reality.

The scientific case to eliminate the Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for children is overwhelming. Since the onset of the pandemic, data has consistently shown that healthy children face virtually no risk from Covid-19.

The CDC’s own statistics show the mortality rate to be almost nil for kids with no underlying conditions, and most cases of the disease are mild or asymptomatic.

Research from the National Institutes of Health and the world’s health authorities strengthen this: Children are much less likely than adults to experience severe outcomes.

But the CDC has held fast to a universal vaccination policy, urging shots for children as young as six months old even in the absence of much evidence of need.

Also, the vaccines carry risks in and of themselves. Cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, especially in adolescent boys, have alarmed parents and independent researchers.

A 2022 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found an increased risk of these heart complications post-mRNA vaccines, where adolescent boys were most severely affected. More disturbing, while the C.D.C. plays down these concerns, the possibility of harm in a low-risk population like children undermines the blanket recommendation.

Removing Covid-19 vaccines from the schedule allows the administration to prioritize child safety and give attention to more safe and effective vaccines for serious diseases such as measles, mumps and polio, which in the past have been far greater threats.

Parental freedom is hanging in the balance. The CDC’s recommendation drives state and school mandates, effectively putting families in a tough situation.

This top-down approach would support the deepening skepticism among parents, who have real hesitations about more government overreach after erratic Covid-19 policies for years.

Only 13 percent of children have received the latest Covid-19 vaccine, according to recent C.D.C. data; that’s a sharp rebuke of the agency’s heavy-handed tactics.

Kennedy, who has spent years fighting for medical choice through his stewardship of Children’s Health Defense, knows that parents — and not bureaucrats — know what’s best for their kids.

Deaths and severe illness among children are rare, so such a move would allow families to consider risks and benefits without concern for punitive measures such as school exclusions or social stigma.

This step is urgent in the context of waning trust in public health institutions. The C.D.C.’s credibility has been shredded by its handling of the Covid-19 response, from flip-flopping on masks and lockdowns to touting endless boosters with little transparency.

A Gallup poll from 2023 shows just 32% of Americans with “high” confidence in the CDC today — and levels of “high” confidence were far, far higher before the pandemic.

That erosion is the result of the agency’s unacceptable closeness to pharmaceutical manufacturers, who are raking in billions from vaccine mandates while parents and others are left questioning both the relationship and their motives.

By taking a stand against the Covid-19 vaccine recommendation, the Trump administration can signal a return to evidence-based policy, free from the influence of Big Pharma’s profit-driven agenda.

Kennedy’s possible intervention would dovetail with the administration’s wider mission of dismantling the Covid-industrial complex.

Under Trump, the government has already redefined the COVID.gov website to dedicate at least some of its effort to actually investigating the origins of the virus, with the lab-leak theory given priority over fearmongering vaccine marketing.

This represents a commitment to truth and accountability that was utterly absent in the prior administration’s approach. Kennedy’s position as HHS secretary elevates this agenda, drawing on his decades-long battle for vaccine transparency as he takes on entrenched interests.

Stripping the Covid-19 vaccine from the childhood schedule would mark a definitive victory in this campaign, one that would prove that the Trump administration prioritizes American families.

Predictably, critics will wail that removing the recommendation opens the door to wider vaccine hesitancy. But the real danger is the CDC’s failure to revise its guidance based on new data, spawning distrust in all public health measures.

The agency’s own Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is already looking at a risk-based approach for the 2025-2026 season, which would see the agency recommend Covid-19 vaccines only to groups at particularly high risk, such as the elderly or immunocompromised.

This change, based on evolving science, emphasizes the obsolescence of universal mandates for children.

Kennedy needs this change to get done, and done decisively, so the CDC isn’t allowed to stall when pharmaceutical lobbyists apply pressure.

The stakes go beyond Covid-19. Declining vaccination rates against other preventable diseases, such as measles and whooping cough, underscore the importance of a targeted public health strategy.

The CDC recorded more than 7,111 cases of whooping cough and 600 cases of measles in 2025, so far. Outbreaks tied to decreased public health funding and rising skepticism.

Instead of doubling down on a divisive Covid-19 mandate, the administration should focus on rebuilding confidence in essential vaccines with decades of safety testing. Kennedy’s guidance can emphasize education and outreach, meeting valid parental concerns without coercion.

Donald Trump’s administration is at a crossroads. By rescinding the CDC’s Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for children, it can shield children from unnecessary medical interventions, re-establish parental sovereignty and renew trust in a public health system designed for people, not corporate elites.

It would also strike a chord with millions of Americans who voted for Trump precisely to upset the status quo and drain the swamp. (Trump and Secretary Kennedy have an opportunity to do just that, and that’s to lead from a point of courage here, and say, look, in America families come first, and science must never be dictated by politics or profit. The time to act is now.

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