The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer recommend that “healthy” children and pregnant women receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday.

The controversial announcement backtracks on the current CDC guidance that calls for annual COVID boosters for everyone aged 6 months and older.

Public health and infectious disease experts said they were surprised and confused about the move, and questioned why the HHS did not offer any reasoning for its decision.

Here’s what to know about it:

RFK Jr. blows through agency process

Kennedy's decision bypassed the traditional method of vaccine policy, which typically involves two separate agencies and an outside group of experts.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decides whether to approve or authorize a vaccine, and the CDC’s independent vaccine advisory panel convenes in an open public meeting to decide questions like who should get it, when and how often. It then sends recommendations to the CDC director, who signs off on them to make official policy.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices isn’t scheduled to vote on the COVID vaccine recommendations until late June; Kennedy’s announcement seemingly renders it moot.

During its previous meeting in April, committee members discussed whether to continue to recommend widespread COVID boosters or switch to a risk-based strategy targeting only the most vulnerable, but they did not vote.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about why the department bypassed the CDC panel and what will happen at its next meeting.

Kennedy made the announcement in a 58-second video posted to social platform X. He was flanked in the video by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).........

© The Hill