CDC Changes COVID Vaccine Recommendations For These IL Residents

ILLINOIS — The CDC has removed the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women from its recommended immunization schedule, Trump Administration officials announced Tuesday in a video on X.

The announcement was made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and FDA Administrator Martin Makary.

"There's no evidence that healthy kids need it today and most countries have stopped recommending it for children," Makary said in the video announcement.

Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from @CDCgov recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/Ytch2afCLP
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) May 27, 2025

"Last year, the Biden Administration urged healthy children to get yet another COVID shot despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children," Kennedy said in announcing the shift.

In Illinois, the COVID-19 vaccine rate among children ages 6 months to 17 years old through March 2025 was between 4 and 5.4 percent. That number is pretty similar to the number from the previous year.

The news comes after the Trump Administration said last week it would limit approval for COVID-19 boosters to seniors and others at high risk.

RELATED: COVID Vaccine Rule Changes Proposed: What To Know In Illinois

That new FDA framework, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, lays out new standards for updated COVID shots. The doctors say the agency will continue to use a streamlined approach to make them available to adults 65 and older as well as children with at least one high-risk health problem.

However, the new framework urges companies to conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people. Previous federal policy recommended an annual COVID shot for all Americans six months and older.

"For many Americans we simply do not know the answer as to whether or not they should be getting the seventh or eighth or ninth or tenth COVID-19 booster," said Prasad, who joined the FDA earlier this month. He previously spent more than a decade in academia, frequently criticizing the FDA's handling of drug and vaccine approvals.

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows more than 47,000 Americans died from COVID-related causes last year. In Illinois, 184 deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported in the last three months.

Earlier in May, the FDA granted full approval of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine but with major restrictions on who can get it — and the new guidance mirrors those restrictions. The approval came after Trump appointees overruled FDA scientists' earlier plans to approve the shot without restrictions.

The Associated Press contributed reporting