The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on a recommendation that patients must consult a health care provider to get a Covid-19 vaccine, although they don't necessarily need a prescription. The recommendations shifted away from a broader push most people to get a Covid-19 vaccine and was made by a new panel of vaccine advisers chosen by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Confusion over vaccine recommendations in the U.S. has hit a boiling point as the responsibility for handling them has spilled onto individual states. Regulators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have long provided trusted national guidance on who should get certain vaccines and when. But now reports of non-evidence-based policy changes at the federal level, along with fears of reduced access, have led a handful of states to start implementing their own new vaccine policies and programs.
President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., meanwhile, have fired or replaced top CDC officials, stripped away vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and children, replaced every member on the federal immunization advisory committee and slashed funding for mRNA research.
Kaiser Permanente, the largest private health insurer in California, has announced it will make Covid-19 vaccinations available for free to all of its members over 6 months of age. The provider expects to have the new 2025-2026 vaccine in stock starting on September 15. The decision, the insurer said in a statement to The Oaklandside, "is based on the latest scientific evidence and clinical guidance from our physician experts and many other sources, including leading medical societies."
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Mr Tillis and others asked him why the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was fired last week, less than a month into her tenure. Mr Kennedy said she was dishonest, and that CDC leaders who left the agency last week in support of her deserved to be fired. He also criticised CDC recommendations during the Covid pandemic tied to lockdowns and masking policies, and claimed - wrongly - that they "failed to do anything about the disease itself".
"Democrats have been vehement in their criticism of Kennedy, accusing him of putting the public in danger, stoking misinformation and gutting evidence-based research. But with the GOP controlling the levers of power, the Democrats are secondary players in the unfolding drama. The big picture: So far, Trump hasn't shown concern over Kennedy's limiting access to COVID-19 vaccines, cutting funding for research on mRNA shots or raising doubts about their safety and effectiveness."
CVS and Walgreens, the country's two largest pharmacy chains, are for now clamping down on offering Covid vaccines in more than a dozen states, even to people who meet newly restricted criteria from the Food and Drug Administration. On Thursday, Amy Thibault, a spokeswoman for CVS, said the vaccine was not available at pharmacies in 16 states, citing the current regulatory environment and emphasizing that the list could change. She did not provide an explanation for the change.
