The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Oct. 19 that it plans to add COVID-19 vaccines to the child immunization schedule, which could lead to a COVID vaccine mandate for school children in some states.
“As we’ll be discussing today and tomorrow, incorporation of the COVID-19 vaccines in the immunization schedule and the Vaccines for Children program is an important step towards inclusion of COVID-19 vaccines in a routine vaccination program,” Dr. Sara Oliver, a CDC official, told a panel of agency advisers during a meeting on Oct. 19.
A meeting agenda said the advisers would vote on immunization schedules for children and adolescents for 2023, but it did not confirm with certainty whether COVID-19 vaccines could be added.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends vaccines for inclusion in the schedule for three different age groups — birth to 15 months, 18 months to 18 years, and adults. However, it falls to the CDC and two partners to make the final decision on inclusion.
The CDC also wrote on Twitter that the committee “will vote on an updated childhood immunization schedule,” after Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins University professor, appeared on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” late Wednesday to speak out against adding COVID-19 vaccines to the schedule.
CDC officials have yet to respond to details on the vote, which is slated for Thursday, in regard to the 2023 schedule. CDC official Sarah Meyer said that advisers would be discussing COVID-19 vaccines appearing on the child, adolescent, and adult vaccine schedules during a recent talk to the CDC Foundation.
The Epoch Times reported that in an email Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, claims that “If the COVID-19 vaccines weren’t added to the schedule this week, they likely would be in the future.”
“There has not been one vaccine that has been produced by the pharmaceutical industry and licensed for children in the U.S. that has not been eventually recommended by federal health officials for children and placed on the CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule,” she said in the email.
While the CDC sought to distance itself from mandates, some jurisdictions have adopted almost all CDC guidance on COVID as mandates.
“States establish vaccine requirements for school children, not ACIP or CDC,” the CDC said.
A number of states have ordered that immunizations against COVID will be required for school attendance. In some areas, such as California, officials say they plan to or already have begun mandating COVID vaccination for certain age groups to attend school.
On the other hand, some states have outright banned COVID vaccine mandates, such as Florida that refuses to mandate COVID vaccines for school attendance and has even gone so far as to recommend against them for healthy individuals.
“Regardless of what @CDCgov votes tomorrow on whether COVID-19 vax are added to routine child immunizations – nothing changes in FL. Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis, COVID mandates are NOT allowed in FL, NOT pushed into schools, & I continue to recommend against them for healthy kids,” Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, wrote on Twitter.
On Wednesday, CDC advisers unanimously voted to add COVID-19 vaccines to Vaccines for Children, a program aimed at granting poor children and adolescents the ability to obtain certain vaccines.
The vaccines will not immediately be available through the program, because the U.S. government is still providing vaccines purchased with taxpayer funds to health care personnel across the country. However, once agreements between the government and vaccine manufacturers end, the ordering system for the vaccines will change, and VFC providers can order the vaccines through the program.
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