The CDC changed its COVID vaccine guidance. What does that mean for you?

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🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new COVID recommendations this week, it raised questions among clinicians and patients:

Will those shots still be available to people who want them — and will insurance cover it?

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, about the CDC's new guidelines for healthy children and pregnant women — and whether they could make it more difficult for these patients to get shots if they want them.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This week, the federal government released new guidelines on who should be vaccinated for COVID-19.
0:06.2	Hi, everybody. I'm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., your HHS secretary.
0:10.3	Kennedy, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services, announced the change in a one-minute
0:14.7	video posted on X.
0:16.6	I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children
0:22.5	and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule.
0:29.4	Also in the video, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Martin McCarrie.
0:33.7	There's no evidence healthy kids need it today, and most countries have stopped recommending it for children.
0:39.4	The announcement comes after the FDA changed its approach to COVID vaccines,
0:44.0	prioritizing immunizations for people at highest risk of serious complications.
0:49.3	Some clinicians worry that changing these guidelines could put people at risk.
0:53.4	Consider this, The COVID vaccine has
0:55.9	saved lives. Now that the CDC has stopped recommending kids and pregnant women get the shot,
1:02.1	will the vaccine still be available to those who want it and will insurance cover it?
1:09.7	From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro.
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