The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a panel of vaccine advisers have allowed more access for pregnant women to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to an update earlier this month from the CDC, pregnant women will have more access to the COVID-19 vaccine, a change from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s original stance where he recommended they should not get the vaccine.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC voted last month to recommend adults get the COVID-19 vaccine after consultation with their healthcare provider. The extra step is called “shared decision-making” or “individual-based decision-making,” according to a CDC news release earlier this week.
“Informed consent is back,” acting CDC Director and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said in the release. “CDC’s 2022 blanket recommendation for perpetual COVID-19 boosters deterred health care providers from talking about the risks and benefits of vaccination for the individual patient or parent. That changes today.”
The reccomendation didn’t say whether or not the shot should be taken during pregnancy, but it does appear to include pregnant women. The updated guidance for adults says pharmacies can give the vaccine to pregnant women and most insurers have to cover the cost with no cost sharing, resulting in expanded access.
As of now, babies under six months old cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination during pregnancy could be seen by providers as a way to protect infants from the infection.
The panel of 12 vaccine advisers was selected by Kennedy and it’s unclear if this vote would undo his recommendation about pregnant women not taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
As of now, Kennedy has not made a statement about the decision.
“COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy had been discussed initially — ACIP recommended them — then the secretary took that back,” vaccine law expert Dorit Reiss told Politico. “Under these circumstances, if they were going to change the decision about pregnancy, I would have expected them to address it expressly, since it was changed expressly [by Kennedy].”
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