Overview

• Kennedy announced via social media that COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women have been removed from the CDC’s recommended schedule, bypassing the agency’s usual advisory process.
• Days later the CDC issued updated guidance retaining the vaccine on the childhood schedule while advising healthy kids “may” get a shot after consulting a provider, contradicting Kennedy’s pronouncement.
• The Make America Healthy Again Commission report was found to include multiple erroneous and fabricated citations, prompting White House corrections and a statement of confidence in Kennedy’s HHS team.
• Experts including Michael Osterholm and Georges Benjamin say the daily policy reversals and report errors risk eroding decades of public trust in vaccines and federal health institutions.
• HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon defended Kennedy’s tactics as a deliberate effort to modernize communication and rebuild trust, leveraging direct channels like social media instead of traditional rule-making.