Members of the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices were listening to a presentation on Covid-19 at the ACIP meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on September 19, 2025.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
A handpicked vaccine panel on Friday from Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. weakened Covidshot recommendations in the US and encouraged all Americans to consult with their health care providers before deciding whether to receive the vaccine.
A 12-person panel, called the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices (ACIP), recommended that people from six months onwards receive the vaccine based on what is called “shared clinical decisions.” The group also voted to emphasize that for people under the age of 65, the covid vaccine is most beneficial for people at high risk of severe illness due to illness.
This guidance has been broken since the past few years when all Americans from six months onwards recommended receiving updated Covid shots.
Although ACIP did not limit the use of the Covid vaccine, the panel’s soft recommendations could further confuse Americans about whether it would make taking shots and accessing them more difficult. ACIP sets recommendations on who should receive a particular shot and which vaccine insurance companies need to cover for free.
Panel chair Martin Kruldorf said the new recommendation is his understanding that government-run insurance plans still mean that COVID vaccines are covered. However, it is unclear whether all private health plans will maintain shot coverage.
The CDC, which had its latest manager ousted by the Trump administration earlier this month, still has to adopt panel recommendations.
The vote isn’t surprising as Kennedy appointed several voice critics of mRNA covid shots to the panel after ousting all previous members in June. During Friday’s meeting, some members questioned the safety and efficacy of COVID shots and mRNA technology, and questioned the reliability of data on hospitalization rates due to the virus.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Level Professor will speak at the Advisory Committee Meeting on Vaccination Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on September 19, 2025.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
It also follows Kennedy’s recent move to change the US Covid vaccine policy, which has created a new hurdle for some people to access the vaccine, including certain state prescribing requirements. The CDC dropped recommendations for covid shots for healthy children and pregnant women, and the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new covid jab with restrictions on who can get them.
The ability to take the vaccine may vary from state to state. In a break from federal guidelines, four democracies on Wednesday recommended that a wide range of populations receive an updated Covid shot, including “all who choose to protect.” Still, new recommendations could weaken vaccination rates against the virus and increase the threat of disease spread.
A survey released Thursday at JAMA Network Open showed its sticking to the universal covid vaccine recommendations in the United States. This shows that guidance implemented in recent years could prevent thousands of hospitalizations and deaths than limiting advisory to high-risk groups.
Many studies have demonstrated that shots using mRNA technology, including Pfizer and Moderna’s covid vaccines, are safe and effective, and have serious side effects in very rare cases. One paper in August estimated that the Covid vaccine saved more than 2 million lives worldwide between 2020 and October 2024, mainly among seniors.
In a statement Friday, Pfizer said the company and its partner BioNTech “remains in its commitment to vaccine safety, quality and efficacy through certain safety monitoring and ongoing research.”
One of the leading health insurance groups on Wednesday said this week that ACIP will cover all vaccines already recommended by ACIP, including updated Covid and flu shots, despite changes made by the new slate of appointees. The Group’s membership plan, an American health insurance plan, provides coverage and services to more than 200 million Americans in bulk. This includes more than a dozen Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans, Centene, CVS’Aetna, Evelance Health, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, Molina, and Cigna.
Covid vaccine discussion
One ACIP member, Retsef Levi, professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led a workgroup that reviewed data on Covid vaccines and proposed recommendations. Levi’s presentation on the group’s findings questioned the safety and efficacy of Covid shots and questioned mRNA technology.
“There are a variety of mRNA platforms that actually suggest that they don’t work as intended,” said Levi, who previously tried to stop mRNA shots.
He said that the majority of the working groups feel that individual decisions on whether to receive the Covid vaccine are “appropriate” and that people, specifically, have to get a prescription for the shot. Levi said that some patients “reach the level of nuance” that could have a recent previous infection or a different comorbidity to discuss with their doctor.
However, one workgroup member, Dr. Henry Bernstein, said in another presentation that he would have access to the COVID vaccine, saying that “the need for clinical decision-making and prescribing has created a barrier.”
“Simple and stable recommendations can increase vaccine coverage,” said Bernstein, a professor of pediatrics at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. “The Covid-19 vaccine is very safe and effective.” He is not a member of Kennedy’s panel to vote for the recommendation.
“For pregnant women, pediatric patients, especially those under the age of 2, those over 65, those with a weakened immune system, their medical condition, and those who want to protect themselves and their families,” he said.
