- The American Academy of Pediatrics has advised parents to vaccinate their children as young as 6 months against COVID-19.
- This recommendation opposes the CDC and Health and Human Services advice not to vaccinate healthy children.
- Several medical groups, including the AAP, are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over changes in vaccine policy.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is for the first time in three decades going its own way when it comes to new COVID-19 shot advice, bucking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.
Tuesday, the group released strong advice to parents to see that their young children — those age 6 months up to 2 years old — receive the COVID-19 vaccine. And older children should be able to get the shots, as well, if parents want their children vaccinated, per the academy.
That’s not the advice regarding young kids that’s coming from the CDC and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Federal public health officials don’t recommend the COVID vaccine for healthy kids regardless of age, although they don’t try to stop parents from getting the shots for their children.
In a news release, the academy doubled down on the value of vaccination, noting its recommendation “differs from recent recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC, which was overhauled this year and replaced with individuals who have a history of spreading vaccine misinformation.”
Said AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly in the written statement, “The AAP will continue to provide recommendations for immunizations that are rooted in science and are in the best interest of the health of infants, children and adolescents. Pediatricians know how important routine childhood immunizations are in keeping children, families and their communities healthy and thriving.”
Dr. James Campbell of the University of Maryland, vice chair of the academy’s infectious disease committee, told the Associated Press that very young children are highly susceptible to severe illness should they get COVID-19, so it’s important that vaccine guidelines emphasize they should get the shot.
AP noted that “the 95-year-old Itasca, Illinois-based organization has issued vaccination recommendations for children since the 1930s. In 1995, it synced its advice with recommendations made by the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
This is the first time in 30 years the recommendations have been different “in a significant or substantial way,” per Campbell. Prior to Kennedy’s May announcement, the CDC urged COVID-19 boosters for everyone 6 months and older. After the announcement, the public health agency toned it down to say healthy children “may” get the shots, rather than “should.”
The schedule for vaccines released by the pediatricians Tuesday also includes vaccine recommendations for flu and respiratory syncytial virus.
Vaccinating little ones
The academy’s recommendation for children ages 6 to 23 months who have never been vaccinated for COVID-19 says to make sure all doses are from the same manufacturer. That could be two doses of Moderna or three doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
For those with incomplete vaccination, the recommendation is one dose to complete the series with the same manufacturer.
For those who have a completed vaccination series, the recommendation is one dose at least eight weeks after the most recent dose.
The pediatricians said children who have known allergies to the vaccine or its ingredients shouldn’t get the vaccine, however.
The academy also recommends that older children in high-risk groups be vaccinated and it says that all children should be able to get a booster single dose of age-appropriate vaccine if their parents desire it, noting “the most updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine that is available should be used.”
Included in those 2 to 18 who need the vaccine, per AAP, are children who live in long-term care facilities, those who were never vaccinated and those who are high risk themselves or who live with someone who is.
The pediatricians emphasize that the vaccine should be available for anyone in the age group whether they belong to those risk groups or not.
Changing advice
As Deseret News earlier reported, a CDC panel of vaccine experts was slated to recommend guidelines for the fall shots. One option being considered, per AP, was whether to suggest shots for high-risk groups but give lower-risk groups the choice of being vaccinated or not.
That became a moot point when Kennedy fired everyone on the 17-member panel, appointing his own smaller committee, including vaccine skeptics. AP said he also later excluded the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and other key medical groups from working with the advisers on setting recommendations.
Kennedy’s new panel hasn’t voted on COVID-19 shot recommendations, though it endorses getting fall influenza vaccinations.
And once again, there’s a split between the academy and the CDC. “The new advisory panel voted that people should only get flu vaccines that are packaged as single doses and do not contain the preservative thimerosal,” per AP.
The article noted that “the AAP said there is no evidence of harm from the preservative and recommended doctors use any licensed flu vaccine product that’s appropriate for the patient.”
Pushing back on recommendations
“Other groups — including the Vaccine Integrity Project, a group of outside public health experts — have also started the process of making independent vaccination recommendations out of concern for vaccine misinformation and access under current federal health leadership," according to CNN.
The article added that the American Medical Association was “one of roughly 30 medical and public health organizations that were formally sidelined from their roles as ACIP liaisons and told by email that they could no longer participate in the committee’s crucial workgroups. The email called the liaison members ‘special interest groups’ that are ‘expected to have a ‘bias’ based on their constituency and/or population they represent.”
One of the concerns with the new recommendations from the CDC centers around affordability and access to vaccines. The Affordable Care Act mandated that insurance companies cover the vaccines recommended by the federal committee. That committee also decides whether childhood vaccines should be added to the government’s Vaccines for Children program, which makes sure children who can’t afford them get them.
AAP in its news release asked insurance providers to cover the vaccines in the academy’s recommendations.
Per CNN, “Other changes may make access to vaccines difficult in other ways this fall. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it may limit future COVID-19 shots to older people and those who are at high risk for serious infection, and may not renew authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 5 years old."
Meanwhile, five medical groups and an individual are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Kennedy over the changes in COVID vaccine policy, calling them arbitrary and capricious.
As Deseret News reported, the groups include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, Infectious Disease Society of America, the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and a pregnant physician who is listed as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit asks that the policy changes be stopped, citing lack of evidence to back the changes and claiming that patients’ health is threatened.