{"id":73282,"date":"2025-06-03T15:18:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73282"},"modified":"2025-06-03T15:18:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:18:39","slug":"despite-higher-covid-risk-pregnant-women-are-now-ineligible-for-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73282","title":{"rendered":"Despite Higher Covid Risk, Pregnant Women Are Now Ineligible for Vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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UCSF infectious diseases specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong says HHS recommendations eliminating pregnant women and healthy children from Covid-19 vaccine eligibility are not based on scientific data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pregnant women are severely immunocompromised during gestation, but in the US they will no longer be eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last week that the Covid-19 vaccine will no longer be among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended vaccines for pregnant women, and healthy children and adults under the age of 65.<\/p>\n

Kennedy made the announcement in a one-minute video on X\/Twitter, ahead of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is scheduled to meet June 25-27. Previous administrations have waited for ACIP to announce best practices before sending out their own recommendations.The HHS secretary, who has come under fire for his anti-vaccine stance, said there was no clinical data to support the need for booster vaccines for healthy pregnant women and children.<\/p>\n

\u2018Americans Are Saying No\u2019<\/h2>\n

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has defended the statement, noting that fewer people are getting the Covid-19 vaccine. \u201cFor 88% of American kids, their parents have said no to the COVID shot last season. So the vast majority of Americans are saying no. Maybe they want to see some clinical data as well. Maybe they have concerns about the safety,\u201d he stated June 1 on the CBS news program Face the Nation.<\/p>\n

A new, more contagious variant of Covid, NB.1.8.1, is currently making the rounds in Asia, and is expected to contribute to a surge of Covid infections this summer in the US.<\/p>\n

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Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed\u00a0from\u00a0@CDCgov<\/a>\u00a0recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it\u2019s\u00a0common sense and it\u2019s\u00a0good science. We are now one step closer to realizing\u00a0@POTUS<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0promise to Make America Healthy Again.\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/Ytch2afCLP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy)\u00a0May 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u2018Worrisome Recommendations\u2019<\/h2>\n

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said Kennedy\u2019s recommendations were worrisome. \u201cPregnant people are relatively immunocompromised. And the reason why they\u2019re immunocompromised is because the immune system doesn\u2019t want to recognize the growing fetus too much. So that puts them at risk for lots of other infections in general, including serious COVID,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chin-Hong said he was also concerned about the recommendations regarding young children, specifically those under 6 months. \u201cThe reason why we see serious disease in that group is because the immune system is not mature enough,\u201d he said at an American Community Media news briefing May 30. \u201cFor those under six months, they rely on the antibodies going across the placenta from the mom. And by eliminating the vaccine, even in healthy pregnant people, you wouldn\u2019t be able to protect that group easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

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