The members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices listen to a presentation on COVID-19 during an ACIP meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, on September 19, 2025.
Alyssa pointer | Reuters
The hand -selected vaccine panel of the Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Covid recommendations weakened on Friday the UU.
The 12 -member panel, called Immunization Practices Advisory Committee, or ACIP, recommended that 6 -month -old people receive vaccines based on the so -called “shared clinical decision making”, which refers to a decision process between a medical care provider and a patient or their guardian. The group also voted to emphasize that for those under 65, the Covid vaccine is more beneficial for those with a high risk of serious illness due to the disease.
The orientation is broken from previous years, where the committee recommended that all Americans of 6 months and more receive an updated Covid opportunity.
Although ACIP did not restrict the use of the Covid vaccine, the softest recommendation of the panel can even more confuse Americans about whether to have a chance and make it difficult for them to access one. ACIP establishes recommendations on who should receive certain shots and what vaccines insurers should cover at no cost.
The president of the panel, Martin Kullldorff, said he understood that the new recommendation means that insurance plans managed by the Government will still cover Covid vaccines. But it is not clear if all private health plans will maintain the coverage of the shooting.
The CDC, whose last director was expelled by the Trump administration earlier this month, has still to adopt panel recommendations.
The vote is not a surprise, since Kennedy appointed several vocal critics of the shooting of the COVID to the panel after expelling all the previous members in June. During Friday's meeting, some members question the security and effectiveness of COVID shots and RNM technology, and questioned the reliability of data on hospitalization rates due to the virus.
The Professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Resef Levi, speaks during a meeting of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, on September 19, 2025.
Alyssa pointer | Reuters
Kennedy's other recent movements also follows to change Covid Covid vaccine policy, which have created new obstacles for some people to access vaccines, including prescription requirements in certain states. The CDC launched covid shoot recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women, and food and medication administration approved the new COVID with limits on who can obtain them.
The ability to obtain vaccines can vary according to the State: at a break from federal guidelines, four democratic states recommended on Wednesday that broad strips of the population receive an updated COVID shot, including “all those who choose protection.” Even so, the new recommendations could weaken vaccination rates against the virus and increase the threat of the spread of the disease.
A study published Thursday in Jama Network Open showed that sticking to a recommendation of Universal Covid vaccine in the USA., The guide that has been in force in recent years has the potential to prevent thousands of hospitalizations and deaths that limiting the notice to high -risk groups.
Numerous studies have shown that shots that use RNM technology, including Pfizer and modern Covid vaccines, are safe and effective, and serious side effects have occurred in extremely rare cases. An article in August estimates that Covid vaccines saved more than 2 million lives, mainly among older adults, worldwide between 2020 and October 2024.
In a statement on Friday, Pfizer said that the company and its biowest partner “remain firm in our dedication to the safety, quality and effectiveness of vaccines through constant monitoring of safety and ongoing research.”
An important health insurance group said Wednesday that the plans of its members will cover all vaccines already recommended by ACIP, including covid vaccines and updated flu, despite the changes that the new list of appointments makes this week. The plans of the group members, the US health insurance plans, collectively provide coverage and services to more than 200 million Americans. That includes more than a dozen blue crossed shield plans, Centene, CVS 'Aetna, Elevance Health, human, permanent kaiser, Molina and Cigna.
Discuss Covid vaccines
An ACIP member, Resef Levi, professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, directed a working group that reviewed the data and proposed recommendations on Covid vaccines. Levi's presentation on the group's findings questioned the safety and effectiveness of Covid shots and threw doubts about RNM technology.
“We have a variety of things on RNM platforms that really suggest that it doesn't work as planned,” he said Levi, who previously pressed to stop giving RNM.
He said that the majority of the working group felt that individual decisions about whether to receive a COVID vaccine are “appropriate” and specifically, that people should now obtain prescriptions for the taking. “You reach a level of nuances” where some patients may have recent previous infections or different comorbidities that should be discussed with a doctor as part of a recipe, Levi said.
But a member of the working group, Dr. Henry Bernstein said during another presentation that “shared clinical decision making and the need for a recipe creates barriers” for access to vaccines.
“Simple and stable recommendations can increase vaccine coverage,” said Bernstein, a professor of pediatrics at the Zucker Medicine Faculty in Hofstra/Northwell. “Covid-19 vaccines are highly safe and effective.” He is not a member of the Kennedy panel that votes the recommendations.
“Covid-19 vaccination is important for pregnant women, pediatric patients, especially those under two years of age, people 65 years of age or older, those of any age with a weakened immune system, medical conditions and anyone who feels they want protection for themselves or their families,” he said.
