The FDA ended emergency Covid-19 vaccine use, requiring healthy individuals to seek doctor approval.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday revoked the remaining emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 vaccines, restricting easy access for healthy young people. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the decision on X, saying, “These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.”
The move allows people aged six months to 65 years at high risk from Covid-19 to receive vaccines more directly, while healthy individuals must now consult doctors for off-label use. Critics argue this complicates access. “When Robert F. Kennedy Jr said that he is not going to take vaccines away from people that want them, he was wrong. He just did,” said Dr. Paul Offit of the FDA advisory committee.
Pediatricians expressed concern that healthy children will face hurdles, with the American Academy of Pediatrics warning the action “prevents this option for many families.”