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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
FDA approves updated Covid-19 vaccines for limited groups as US cases | |
continue to rise | |
By Jamie Gumbrecht, Deidre McPhillips, Brenda Goodman, CNN | |
Updated: | |
11:21 PM EDT, Sat August 30, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
The US Food and Drug Administration approved updated Covid-19 vaccines | |
Wednesday, but for a limited group: adults 65 and older, and younger | |
people who are at higher risk from Covid-19. | |
“FDA has now issued marketing authorization for those at higher risk: | |
Moderna (6+ months), Pfizer (5+), and Novavax (12+). These vaccines are | |
available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their | |
doctors,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy | |
Jr. said in a . | |
The vaccines have been updated to target coronavirus strains | |
circulating more recently. | |
Kennedy said in this post that he had promised “to keep vaccines | |
available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable,” but | |
the narrower approval may limit access to Covid-19 shots for people who | |
were routinely able to get them in the past. | |
It may be significantly more difficult for infants and young children | |
to get vaccinated, although they are especially vulnerable to Covid-19. | |
Last respiratory virus season, there were 48 Covid-19 hospitalizations | |
for every 100,000 children under 5 – nearly seven times the rate for | |
older children and more than twice the rate for adults under 50. | |
Emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 vaccines are rescinded, | |
Kennedy said Wednesday, which means , , is no longer authorized for | |
children younger than 5. Moderna’s vaccine is approved for children | |
as young as 6 months, but only if they have an underlying condition | |
that puts them at higher risk. The FDA had already approved — the | |
only protein-based, non-mRNA vaccine available in the US — but only | |
for people 65 and older and those 12 and up who have at least one | |
underlying condition that puts them at higher risk of severe illness. | |
“Our health care system is now solidly anti-children and | |
anti-science. The data are clear: young children–especially | |
infants–remain highly vulnerable to severe illness and | |
hospitalization from Covid-19. By restricting access to safe, | |
evidence-based vaccines, federal leaders are choosing ideology over | |
science,” Fatima Khan, co-founder of the nonprofit grassroots group | |
Protect Their Future, which advocates for vaccine access for kids, told | |
CNN. “Denying children a critical tool to prevent avoidable tragedies | |
will be a lasting stain on every policymaker who allowed it to | |
happen.” | |
FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Vinay Prasad, director of the | |
FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, also in May that | |
there’s not enough evidence that healthy children and adults get | |
clinically meaningful benefit from regular Covid-19 shots, and they | |
want to see more placebo-controlled trials, particularly in adults 50 | |
to 64, before recommending the shots for other groups. | |
A spokesperson for the FDA said in a statement that the decision | |
“does not affect access to these vaccines. These vaccines remain | |
available to those who choose them in consultation with their | |
healthcare provider.” | |
Many health conditions increase risk with Covid-19, , including lung, | |
heart and kidney conditions; obesity; cancer; HIV and pregnancy. | |
And vaccines may be accessible to healthy younger people | |
“off-label,” Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases | |
Society of America, said in a statement. However, she said, the new FDA | |
decision “completely contradicts the evidence base, severely | |
undermines trust in science-driven policy and dangerously limits | |
vaccine access, removing millions of Americans’ choice to be | |
protected and increasing the risk of severe outcomes from COVID.” | |
The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said Wednesday’s | |
FDA actions could be a barrier to vaccination. | |
“Any parent who wants their child vaccinated should have access to | |
this vaccine; today’s unprecedented action from HHS not only prevents | |
this option for many families, but adds further confusion and stress | |
for parents trying to make the best choices for their children,” Dr. | |
Susan Kressly said in a statement. “Parents and pediatricians, | |
together, make the best decisions to protect children’s long-term | |
health.” | |
Approved vaccines are available after they’ve been recommended for | |
use by the CDC. Kennedy previously that the agency would no longer | |
recommend Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children or pregnant women. The | |
CDC’s immunization schedule was updated to reflect that children | |
would be able to get the vaccines after consulting with a health care | |
provider, known as “shared decision-making.” For pregnant women, | |
there is no recommendation. | |
Last week, the broke from the CDC to recommend Covid-19 shots for | |
infants and young children. The also reaffirmed support for Covid-19 | |
vaccination during pregnancy, | |
Covid-19 levels have been on the rise for months in the US, with | |
transmission increasing in most states, . Surveillance data from | |
WastewaterSCAN suggests that virus levels are about half of what they | |
were during the peak of last summer’s surge, but they match the peak | |
from the summer of 2023 – and epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers noted in | |
her that there are no signs of slowing yet, so activity will probably | |
continue to increase in the weeks ahead. | |
There were about 1.7 Covid hospitalizations for every 100,000 people | |
during the first week of August, CDC shows, with the highest rates | |
among seniors and children under 5. | |
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