BREAKING: CDC recommends off-label Covid vaccines for healthy babies, children and young adults

In a move that will blindside supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the CDC has quietly reverted to its old Covid vaccine recommendations.

There was no official announcement or media fanfare. The agency simply updated its 2026–27 guidance, recommending Covid shots for healthy infants, children and adults — including outside FDA-approved indications.

It comes despite the FDA restricting vaccine approvals in people under 65 to higher-risk groups, and despite federal scientists linking child deaths to the shots.

Just last week, Kennedy sought to reassure his supporters, urging patience as he acknowledged their frustration with the slow pace of change.

“Let me be clear,” he declared. “You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House.”

Now, for supporters who banked on Kennedy ending childhood Covid vaccination, that reassurance lies in tatters.

And it has happened under his watch.

What changed?

Citing “legal uncertainties and inquiries” surrounding its advisory committee, CDC has reverted to its July 2025 Covid vaccine recommendations.

The decision has created a divide between FDA approval and CDC guidance.

While FDA has restricted Moderna’s Spikevax and Pfizer’s Comirnaty in people under 65 to those at increased risk of severe Covid, the CDC is promoting much broader guidance:

• Adults (18+): A 2026–27 Covid vaccine is recommended for all adults, regardless of health status.

• Healthy children (6 months–17 years): Vaccination is recommended through “shared clinical decision-making” between families and healthcare providers.

• Immunocompromised children (6 months–17 years): A 2026–27 vaccine is recommended for all children who are moderately to severely immunocompromised.

In practice, the CDC is recommending off-label vaccination for healthy adults and children when that use falls outside FDA-approved indications.

This includes young males aged 12–24, the group with the highest observed risk of vaccine-associated myocarditis, even as the FDA says it lacks “substantial certainty” that the benefits outweigh the risks for healthy people.

For infants, the divide is even more glaring.

Moderna’s Spikevax — the only Covid vaccine available for children aged 6–23 months — is FDA-approved only for those with an underlying condition that puts them at high risk of severe Covid.

But the CDC advises that a healthy, previously unvaccinated baby should receive a two-dose series — and explicitly identifies that use as “off-label.”

Is this really “shared decision-making”?

The CDC says Covid vaccination of healthy children should rest on “shared clinical decision-making.”

But that only works if parents are given enough information to make an informed choice.

The agency does not quantify what benefit a healthy baby can realistically expect from vaccination or clearly explain the limits of that protection.

Other countries are more transparent. Britain, for example, states plainly that current Covid vaccines provide “limited protection against mild infection and no evident protection against transmission.”

Denmark is equally candid about the low risk faced by most children, stating that “only a small number of children need seasonal vaccination against COVID-19,” with vaccination requiring an individual medical assessment.

To ensure true informed consent, parents also need a clear account of the harms and uncertainties, including the proposed warnings from the CDC’s own ACIP workgroup about myocarditis deaths, prolonged post-vaccine illness and unresolved safety questions.

Without that clarity, how meaningful is “shared decision-making”?

The AAP gets what it wanted

The CDC’s updated guidance almost mirrors that of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

On 2 September, the AAP published its 2026–27 recommendations, calling for Covid vaccination of all infants aged 6–23 months and recommending it for older children based on their risk and parents’ preferences.

Now, three weeks later, the CDC has followed with guidance covering essentially the same childhood population.

For an administration that promised to challenge the medical establishment, it is a staggering surrender — particularly given that the AAP receives substantial funding from vaccine manufacturers.

Kennedy was warned

Recently, more than 160 physicians, scientists and activists, including myself, sent an open letter to Kennedy and President Trump raising a series of objections, including the continued vaccination of children and the FDA-identified deaths.

Many of Kennedy’s supporters endured censorship, professional repercussions and public ridicule for questioning whether healthy children should receive Covid vaccines.

They expected his appointment to bring a decisive change in policy. For many, this will feel like betrayal.

The irony

When HHS overhauled the childhood vaccination schedule in January, Kennedy justified the reforms by declaring: “We are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent.”

The irony now is that US Covid vaccine guidance points in the opposite direction.

Across much of Europe, Britain and Australia, Covid vaccination is largely targeted at older people and those at increased risk, with healthy children generally excluded from guidance.

Kennedy cannot win every administrative battle. But Covid vaccines were never a minor issue for him. As HHS Secretary, he wields substantial authority over federal vaccine policy, raising an obvious question — why didn’t he intervene?

In 2021, Kennedy called on the FDA to “immediately remove Covid vaccines from the market.” Months later, he described the Covid vaccine as the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Now, under Kennedy’s leadership, the CDC recommends Covid vaccination for healthy babies, children and adults — even beyond FDA-approved indications.

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CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/covid/hcp/vaccine-considerations/overview.html

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