(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning to drop recommendations for routine COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women, teens and children, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of the HHS, recommends that individuals aged six months and older should be given an updated COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of previous inoculations for the disease.
It was not clear if the department is planning to remove the recommendation entirely for those groups or just suggest that patients talk with their doctors about risks and benefits, the report said.
As of April 26, about 14% of pregnant women and 13% of children had received the updated COVID vaccine, according to the CDC.
In the U.S., three COVID shots have been authorized for use – Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s/ messenger RNA based vaccines along with Novavax’s protein-based shot.
Moderna and Novavax declined to comment, while the HHS and Pfizer did not immediately respond to Reuters requests seeking comment.
HHS is led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Martin Makary had also raised concerns about a number of public health efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and opposed vaccine mandates for the general public.
Novavax is currently trying to resolve issues with the FDA for its vaccine shot, after the health regulator missed its April 1 target to approve the shot.
In addition to the CDC recommendation changes, the FDA is planning to roll out a new framework for vaccine approvals next week, the WSJ reported.
This comes amid mass layoffs, including of high-ranking scientists, as part of a overhaul under Kennedy, which has prompted worries about potential disruptions to the regulatory review of treatments and vaccines.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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