By Josh Nathan-Kazis

Two days after Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a dramatic pullback on Covid-19 shots in the U.S., federal health officials haven't released details on the new policy, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to update its website to reflect the changes.

The CDC sets U.S. vaccine standards, and its lack of communication leaves vaccine policy in limbo.

Kennedy's announcement came in a video posted to his official social media account just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Flanked by the heads of the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, he said the CDC was sharply narrowing its recommendations for who should get a Covid-19 shot.

Kennedy said that, "as of today," the agency would no longer recommend the shots for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women." The CDC has previously recommended that everyone six months and older get an updated Covid-19 booster each year, adding a second annual booster for those 65 and above.

Forty-eight hours later, however, CDC hasn't issued new guidance or responded to requests for clarification about the new policies. HHS also hasn't responded to requests for details on Kennedy's policy.

CDC websites continue to say that "everyone ages six months and older" should get an updated shot, and that children should get "at least one dose of the current Covid-19 vaccine" every year. The CDC hasn't issued a press release in more than a week.

Under prior administrations, decisions about how vaccines would be used in the U.S. were hashed out in public meetings of outside advisors to the FDA and CDC. The recommendations of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices were then published in lengthy scientific papers in the CDC's in-house journal.

"The deliberations of the ACIP, plus any papers that come out of it, are all available to the public," says Dr. Nancy Bennett, a professor emerita at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, who chaired ACIP from 2015 to 2018. "It's a completely transparent process."

That's not what happened on Tuesday.

Under its charter, ACIP reports to the CDC director, who in turn reports its recommendations to the HHS secretary.

"There's no question that this video directly undercut the role of the ACIP," Bennett says. "This is really unprecedented and very disturbing to those of us who really care about using vaccines in the most effective manner in the U.S."

The practical implications of Kennedy's new guidance aren't clear. Kennedy seemed to be saying that the CDC would no longer recommend any Covid-19 shots for people aged 18 and under, and that it would still recommend boosters for people aged 18 and up, while excluding healthy pregnant women from the guidance.

That recommendation seems to contradict a new policy that FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and his top vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, laid out last week, which would raise the standards drugmakers must meet to get updated Covid-19 shots approved for healthy younger adults, while maintaining access to the updated shots for seniors and high-risk people. Makary and Prasad had listed pregnant women as a high-risk group who would still be eligible for updated boosters.

Kennedy's proclamation comes as the CDC operates with no clear leader. President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the agency, Susan Monarez, has yet to be confirmed. The agency's website doesn't list an acting director. At a Senate hearing in mid-May, Kennedy said that the acting CDC director was Matt Buzzelli, an attorney listed on the agency's website as its chief of staff.

"They have no director," says Bennett. "Until they have a director, it's pretty hard to have an independent stance on anything."

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2025 15:31 ET (19:31 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.