ATLANTA (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers added confusion Friday to this fall’s COVID-19 vaccinations — declining to recommend them for anyone and leaving the choice up to those who want a shot.
Until now, the vaccinations had been recommended as a routine step in the fall for nearly all Americans — just like a yearly flu vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration already had placed new restrictions on this year’s shots from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, reserving them for people over 65 or younger ones who are deemed at higher risk from the virus.
In a series of votes Friday, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the unprecedented step of not recommending them even for high-risk populations like seniors. Instead they decided people could make individual decisions after talking with a doctor, nurse or pharmacist.
That’s how they’ve always woked; it’s up to the individual. What would be great, and hear me out, what if there was a group of experts, scientists and doctors, who meet and discuss the scientific and medical merits of a vaccine based on the latest peer reviewed research, then make a recommendation to the general public on whether they should get it, based on risk factors such as age and lifestyle in order to help the general public make as informed of a decision as possible. Oh, wait…
Dude, we should try that!