FDA ends broad Covid vaccine authorization as RFK Jr. limits access to immunizations

[lostincalifornia]

5. Here is the NY Times report on this

"The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved updated Covid vaccines for the fall season that limit who can get the shots, the federal government’s most restrictive policy since the vaccines became available.

The agency authorized the vaccines for people who are 65 and older, who are known to be more vulnerable to severe illness from Covid. Younger people would only be eligible if they have at least one underlying medical condition that put them at risk for severe disease, according to people notified of the approvals. Healthy children under 18 could still receive the shots if a medical provider is consulted.

People seeking the shots will soon face another hurdle. An influential advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must vote to recommend them. But that panel’s makeup shifted when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unseated existing members, reduced the panel’s size and added some Covid vaccine opponents.

This would mark the first fall/winter season that Covid shots were not widely recommended to most people and children, pitting federal health officials in the Trump administration against several national medical groups that oppose the restrictions. In a break from tradition, the F.D.A. did not issue a news release on the approvals.

.......

Health insurers have so far made few changes in coverage and have said they expect to continue to support vaccination as a preventative measure, but whether coverage will change because of the new restrictions remains unknown. Medicaid coverage, which includes the Vaccines for Children Program that provides access to low-income and working-class families, generally hews to the C.D.C. recommendations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/health/fda-covid-vaccines-rfk-jr.html


Here is the STAT News report on this"

FDA issues narrower approvals for Covid boosters, revokes emergency authorizations

Actions could make it more difficult to get young children vaccinated

"WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved updated Covid boosters, but removed emergency use authorizations for the vaccines, in a set of moves that could make the shots more difficult to obtain for children under 5, in particular.

The moves were announced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, in a post on the social media site X. He portrayed the actions as fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse Covid-era policies while still allowing people to access vaccines.

“I promised 4 things,” Kennedy wrote. “ 1. to end covid vaccine mandates; 2. to keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable; 3. to demand placebo-controlled trials from companies; 4. to end the emergency.

“In a series of FDA actions today we accomplished all four goals. The emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded.”

........

"Covid vaccine authorizations for all three available vaccines, Kennedy said, would now only be for higher risk individuals, including those over sixty-five and those who have risk factors for developing severe Covid. Kennedy said that the Moderna vaccine is approved for those older than six months, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for those older than five years, and the Novavax shot for those older than 12."


https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/27/fda-covid-vaccines-kennedy-rescinds-emergency-use-authorization/