The future of vaccines under RFK Jr.: Millions of lives may be at risk

By Alexander J. Schorr

“My opinions about vaccines are irrelevant. I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.” — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Human Health Secretary. 

September 6, 2025 (Washington D.C.) -- The future for vaccines and access to them in the U.S .is shaky at best after a clash between the Health and Human Services secretary and members of Congress in a bipartisan grilling. Following a mass firing at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), access to vaccines guarding against the newest COVID-19 strain is a point of concern, especially with the leadership consisting of mainly loyal anti-vaxxers.

Recent federal policy changes have led to a confusion among healthcare providers and could cause issues with vaccine availability and insurance coverage for children and adults under age 65. A key question from the hearing was whether anyone could still get a COVID shot now if they wanted to. The short answer is ”no.”

The future availability of COVID-19 vaccines for children, including newborns, is uncertain due to recent policy changes at the federal level contrasting with health and state authorities’ medical advice, as well as the consensus among doctors’ professional organizations. Vaccine availability may depend on factors such as your location, healthcare provider, and potential insurance or program coverage.

During an intense and contentious hearing, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pressed about his firing of the then CDC Director Susan Monarez. During the meeting, the Secretary confirmed that he asked Monarez to fire several key leaders in the health agency, even as his account of the event contradicted his claims of not viewing her as “trustworthy.”

What to Know

There is conflicting guidance from different medical bodies regarding COVID-19 vaccinations for healthy children:     

• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) continues to recommend Covid vaccines for all children aged 6 months through 23 months.

• The COVID-19 vaccine is currently recommended for infants starting at 6 months of age, with no vaccine authorized for newborns younger than 6 months.

• In May, Trump administration health officials stopped recommending annual Covid shots for healthy children. The updated CDC guidance now states that children aged 6 months to 17 years may receive the vaccine based on shared clinical decisions with a doctor.

There are no authorized COVID-19 vaccines for infants younger than 6 months, and thor protection relies on the vaccination status of their caregivers. The CDC and other medical experts recommend that pregnant and those breastfeeding should stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines, as this can pass on some protection to the infant. Check with your child’s pediatrician, as they can discuss the benefits and risk and provide the best and current information; you can use the search tool at vaccines.gov, as the Federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program continues to provide free vaccines to eligible children.

Healthcare workers under 65 are not prohibited from getting a booster shot. The recent policy changes under RFK Jr. shift the decision from a blanket public health recommendation to a personal one made in consultation with a doctor, based on individual risk and circumstances.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the next round of COVID boosters for the fall, though limiting who should receive the shot: the new guidance now states that only high-risk groups (people over 65 and those with certain pre-existing conditions) should routinely receive the updated vaccine. Additionally, Health Secretary Kennedy also announced that the emergency use authorizations for the COVID-19 vaccines have also been rescinded.

For healthy individuals under 65 with no preexisting conditions,  COVID boosters are available in California currently, a CVS pharmacy technician told ECM’s editor. But she said such individuals would have to pay for the vaccine themselves, as insurance is only covering those for whom the CDC recommends the booster.

Even healthcare workers, caregivers for seniors, and parents of infants too young to get vaccinated must now pay for COVID boosters---if they can find them at all. While California, Washington and Oregon have formed a healthcare alliance to assure that vaccines remain available, it is uncertain whether conservative red states may limit vaccine availability.

This clearly puts lives at risk.  Before vaccines were available, so many Americans were dying of COVID-19 that in some cities, large refrigerated trucks were brought in to serve as mobile morgues.  Hospitals were filled to capacity, with some treating patients in tents set up in parking lots.

The chart at right shows the dramatic spike in COVID cases locally in late 2020, followed by a steep drop-off as soon as vaccines rolled out and over 1 million San Diego County residents had been vaccinated.

The Danger of a New Variant

As of September, the dominant COVID-19 variant circulating in the US is XFG, also known as “Stratus.” It is an Omicron subvariant that emerged as the most prevalent and potent strain during the summer of 2025. Another strain, LP.8.1, is the target strain for the most current vaccines, although XFG is currently the most dominant variant.

The XFG (Stratus) presents symptoms similar to previous strains, including fever, cough, fatigue, and a sore throat, with some anecdotal reports indicating a scratchy throat. Health experts believe the risk posed by XFG is “low” in that it does not appear to cause more severe illness than other recent Omicron variants.

Kennedy’s changes reverse CDC recommendations in place as recently as June, which had advised that most adults age 18 and older get a COVID-19 vaccine, including healthcare workers.  The vaccines (Moderna,Pfizer-BioNTech, and Novavax) were widely available for anyone age 6 months and up through pharmacies, clinics and doctors’ offices.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended a monovalent vaccine targeting the LP.8.q strain for the 2025 season.

But this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (overseen by HHS under vaccine skeptic RFK Jr.) narrowed its approvals for COVID vaccines, which will reportedly force many people to pay as much as $225 for their next shot.

The result this fall is that healthy people under 65 who want to protect themselves from COVID this fall, when infections from respiratory viruses typically increase, will have to pay out of pocket unleash their insurance companies decide to cover the cost.  Bloomberg News reports that Moderna and Pfizer vaccines cost $225 at CVS, and that Sanofi SA, another vaccine manufacturer, plans to charge around the same amount.  So it may be worth price shopping at Costco or other discount outlets before rolling up your sleeve.

The New York Times also reported that people in certain states like Massachusetts, will not be permitted to receive the vaccine without a prescription— a blatant reversal from past years, where it was relatively inexpensive and nearly universally accessible to people in the US.

To add to the problem, new barriers to COVID vaccine access come at a time when the cases of the viruses are also spiking across America. On Wednesday, a CDC spokesperson told Axios that “COVID-19 activity is increasing in most areas of the country.”

Doctors are still able to prescribe the vaccine to others outside of the new CDC guideline groups, but in some states, people will not be able to simply walk into a pharmacy and get it now: it is also unclear at this time whether insurance will ultimately cover the cost for anyone not recommended, Axios reported.

Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, said that all people on the political spectrum should be alarmed by the attempt to restrict access to vaccines, which he called “one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century."

Sanders stated, “We are witnessing a full-blown war on science, on public health, and on truth itself” adding, “In just six months, Secretary Kennedy has dismantled the vaccine review process, narrowed access to life-saving COVID vaccines, and filled scientific advisory boards with conspiracy theorists and ideologues.”

Among those who resigned in the wake of CDC Director Susan Monarez firing was Dr. Daskalakis, who led the CDC’s mood response in 2022. In a letter explaining his decisions, he wrote, “I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a top; to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve public health.”

Additionally, he warned against Kennedy’s decision to restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccines. “The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threatens the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”

The Threat of No Covid-19 Vaccine

According to new reporting, anti-vaccine HHS Secretary Kennedy is planning to ban the COVID-19 vaccines entirely. This is not just speculation from corners of the internet— this comes from one of RFK Jr.’s closest advisors; Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist who has made a career of pushing claims that contradict with modern science.

Dr Malhotra told the Daily Beast that many of those closest to RFK Jr., who has stacked HHS with like-minded vaccine skeptics lacking medical expertise, have told him that they “cannot understand” why the vaccine continues to be prescribed, and that pending future research, there may be a decision to remove the COVID vaccines from the US market “within months,” even if it causes a “fear of chaos” or legal problems.

The main reason for the intent to remove vital COVID vaccines from the American market is that RFK Jr. and his staff have decided to cherry-pick a widely criticized study that ignores the evidence that COVID vaccines have saved millions of lives and reduced deaths— for clarification, the vaccines reduce the risk of death from COVID-19 and the risk of severe illness, but they do not prevent transmission. But the latest vaccines do  prevent people from getting critically ill, becoming hospitalized or dying.

No credible medical organization says that the vaccines are more dangerous than the virus. While no vaccine has perfect efficacy, the COVID vaccines have been proven safe for the overwhelming majority of people, with side-effects rare and usually mild. Even with rare vaccine complications such as temporary heart enlargement, the risk of getting the same condition from the COVID disease is much higher.

The President's anger at the public health establishment festered during the Coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020 as well, when he accused a “medical deep state" of seeking to undermine his 2020 reelection campaign. Under the Trump administration, the pandemic did also erode trust in federal health agencies, with only one-third of MAGA supporters saying that they trusted the CDC’s vaccines.

According to the Washington Post, Trump said that he would encourage Kennedy to “go wild” on health care, to the extent that even some Republicans are sounding the alarm. In his first six months as Health Secretary, Kennedy has used his power to upend and remake agencies responsible for distributing and handling food and medicine that affects the lives of millions of Americans. He has worked to limit access to vaccines and has also promoted debunked health theories despite a near daily condemnation by public health leaders.

The Secretary of Health is being directed by President Trump. Ironically, in restricting COVID vaccine access, Kennedy would in effect be reversing course on Trump’s own “warp speed” legacy of developing COVID vaccines in order to appease a more extremist and anti-vaxxer base within the MAGA community. Trump once boasted of “Operation: Warp Speed,” and touted success of the vaccines under his first administration, but he stopped doing so when he garnered poor feedback from his rallies regarding the unveiling of vaccines. Through a total capture by many in his MAGA base, Trump is prepared to cast aside the vaccines in order to hold onto political power.

According to The New York Times, the President does not have the authority to unilaterally ban certain vaccines. Public health authority rests primarily with the states, and not the federal government, with the vaccines themselves being licensed and regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

If a medication can be imported or compounded, those states that disagree with the Trump administration’s perspective on science and modern medicine, could potentially get the vaccines elsewhere. However mRNA vaccines do require specialized production and very cold storage, with distribution being strictly regulated.

Residents in red states may find COVID vaccines unavailable at any price.

Even more drastic, a possible federal ban may potentially become absolute; those seeking the vaccine would have to travel abroad to get the medicine— something that can and has become a difficulty for many Americans to afford.  Even traveling out of the U.S. is no guarantee of availability, since some Canadian provinces currently ban COVID vaccines for U.S. travelers, while others allow it.

It is unclear what exactly would happen if the Trump administration does move to pull the COVID-19 vaccines from the market, though such a move would undoubtedly face significant legal hurdles.

RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaxxer Background

 Secretary Kennedy, who founded an anti-vaccine group, has long spread misinformation about immunizations, as well as voiced support for restricting or outright banning vaccines from the public.

Except for his confirmation hearing and private promises, Kennedy has very clearly communicated his intentions to dismantle the CDC.  During decades of activism and lawyering, Kennedy has depicted the CDC as a villain in his vaccine conspiracy theories, calling the agency “a cesspool of corruption” filled with scientists and doctors who seek to profit off of injured children despite lack of evidence for these conspiracy claims.

Photo, right:  A polio ward filled with patients in iron lungs required to be able to breathe, before vaccines eradicated polio in most nations on earth.  Some polio patients were left paralyzed for life, or required iron lung machines to breathe long-term, and some died.

Within seven months, Kennedy has: 

• Pushed budget cuts and canceled billions in research and development.
• Overseen mass layoffs and reorganizations that erased teams tackling health threats.
• Withdrew COVID vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women, with no clear justification.
• Gutted the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, firing respected experts and replacing them with ideological loyalists.
• Installed a vocal COVID vaccine critic to chair a safety subcommittee.
• Reopened a long-debunked debate over a debunked link between vaccines and autism.
• Hired a discredited anti-vaccine researcher, who experimented on autistic children and was stripped of his medical license, to reorganize government data and relitigate settled science.
• Pressed for access to private data to fuel his project.
• Undermined his own epidemiologist during the Texas measles response.
• Downplayed a shooting that left the CDC staff shaken.
• Announced policy changes on social media with no data and then accused the American Academy of Pediatrics of a “pay-to-play scheme” for daring to dissent: on a national MAHA tour, he cheered GOP states as they have restricted food benefits for low-income families.

The Consequences

Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s slogan, “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA), is a good sounding sentiment. But unfortunately, the Trump administration is doing the exact opposite. Throwing approximately 15 million people off their health care, which President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” does, will not help with this. Additionally, Medicaid cuts in the bill signed by Trump will shut down or reduce services for hundreds of nursing homes, community health centers and hospitals throughout the country.

This will get worse with Secretary Kennedy firing Dr. Susan Monarez, the former head of the CDC, who was only on the job for a few weeks. As a result of Monarez’s refusal to rubber-stamp Secretary Kennedy’s anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, Kennedy removed her. It is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities that vaccines are primarily safe and effective against viruses and ubiquitous diseases.

Due to the current leadership at the CDC, millions of Americans may be unable to afford or have access to life-saving medicine for diseases like COVID-19: only those aged 65 and older and younger people with at least one underlying condition. Following Robert F. Kennedy’s orders, this means that common American health insurance plans which follow federal recommendations will no longer have to cover vaccine costs.

Loss of the CDC’s backbone on August 28, its quietest and most competent public health leaders, might prove to be RFK Jr.’s most vital move yet. Following a mass firing spree of key workers of the CDC not complying with President Trump’s party lines, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's skepticism and assault on modern medicine is projected to have a long-lasting generational impact on the health and safety of Americans.

What major medical organizations say about vaccines

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the largest professional association of pediatricians in the US representing over 67,000 doctors who treat children every day, calls immunizations “one of the greatest public health achievements, preventing tens of thousands deaths and millions of cases of diseases.”

The American Medical Association— the largest professional association of physicians and medical students in the US, representing over 270,000 doctors along with 79 leading medical societies, recently said that vaccines for the flu, RSV, and COVID-19 are “the best tools to protect the public against these illnesses and their potentially serious complications.”

The World Health Organization, an agency composed of some of the leading medical experts around the globe, and representing 194 countries, found that over the past 50 years, vaccines have saved 154 million lives and reduced the infant mortality rate by 40%. In spite of this, Secretary Kennedy, who is the head of the US government public health agencies despite having no medical degree or healthcare experience, does not agree with these  leading doctors and scientists in the country and around the world.

Why vaccines matter, and why herd immunity is important

Vaccines have been a part of the human fight against disease for more than 200 years. The worldwide vaccination campaign completely eradicated smallpox worldwide. Immunizations eliminated polio in all but a handful of countries. Childhood vaccinations have also significantly reduced the mortality rate of infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and whopping cough in much of the modern world, with yearly influenza vaccinations being a commonly accepted practice worldwide to reduce the impact of seasonal infections.

Photo via CDC:  A child with measles

It is also worth mentioning that according to ABC News, most adults in the US (79%) say parents should be required to have children vaccinated against diseases such as measles and the flu to attend school as a result of a poll from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. That finding includes 90% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans surveyed. What's more, a recent Reuters / Ipsos Poll in August indicated that 55% of Americans say that the country's public health is going in the wrong direction, with only 29% being in favor of Secretary Kennedy’s newest policy decisions.

Yet Florida this week announced it is ending vaccine mandates even for children to attend public schools—a decision that will undoubtedly lead to an increase in preventable diseases and deaths. Since Floridians travel and Florida is a popular vacation destination, it is likely that visitors exposed to diseases such as measles in Florida will carry those illnesses with them, spreading serious and potentially deadly infections across the U.S. and to other countries.

Vaccine experts tout the importance of herd immunity, meaning getting the vast majority of the population vaccinated to eradicate spread of diseases. This protects not only those who receive vaccines, but also people who cannot get vaccinated because of conditions such as allergies or prior negative reactions. Unvaccinated individuals, particularly those with serious pre-existing conditions, are highly vulnerable to potentially fatal illnesses if those around them and the public in general don’t get vaccinated at high rates.  

As viruses mutate, it’s also important for scientists to have funding to continue the development of vaccines that will be more effective against new variants. Yet the Trump administration has also shut off funding for mRNA vaccine development.

With the emergence and spiking of even some old diseases, the current mindset of the Trump administration's slash-and-burn policies for federal agencies and research institutions appears poised to leave  U.S. residents, particularly vulnerable individuals, as sitting ducks.