The era of Covid-19 mandates is over–or so you thought.
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) voted unanimously to add the Covid-19 shot to the regular schedule of childhood immunizations. The vote itself is little more than a recommendation, but many states take the guidance as law set in stone and will follow whatever the CDC says to do. Not all states, of course, follow the federal government blindly in this area and some have responded by outright rejecting the notion that children should be forced to have a Covid-19 shot as a requirement to attend school.
The Covid-19 shot for children is still operating under emergency use, mind you, but that doesn’t seem to matter as the CDC feels the need to keep imposing mandates on a population that can’t speak for itself:
The CDC’s independent vaccine advisers voted 15-0 Thursday to add most Covid-19 vaccines offered in the U.S. to the childhood, adolescent and adult immunization schedules.
The immunization schedules, which are updated every fall before going into effect the following year, consolidate all of the CDC’s vaccine recommendations in one document for states that use them as guidance for school entry requirements and busy physicians. The additions formalize recommendations the CDC has already made on Covid vaccination in individuals ages 6 months and older for shots that the FDA has approved or has authorized for emergency use.
As noted, while the CDC recommendations aren’t law, they end up triggering state laws in some instances which make it one and the same, a point Tucker Carlson noted on Fox News which drew a weak rebuke from the CDC itself:
Covid vaccines’ inclusion on the schedules don’t constitute mandates, particularly for schoolchildren, which are the purview of states, localities or jurisdictions, depending on local laws. Still, the committee’s vote sparked controversy and debate on social media about what the additions mean for vaccine requirements after Fox News’ Tucker Carlson asserted Tuesday that the CDC would trigger mandates for students.
“This doesn’t represent new recommendations. This represents sort of a summary of existing recommendations,” said advisory panel member Matthew Daley, a senior investigator at the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. “But I will acknowledge … there is symbolism in adding Covid-19 to the childhood immunization schedule, and that symbolism is that we view this as routine and that we view this as Covid is here to stay.”
The deception that somehow this move by the CDC won’t directly impact vaccine schedules in certain states is an outright lie. For many states, such as California or New York, whatever the CDC says is considered the law and might as well be treated that way. The result will be state requirements, that follow CDC guidance, which could now require a Covid-19 jab for children as young as 6 months old through their teen years.
Part of the controversy lies in the question of the efficacy of the Covid-19 shot in children, especially those from ages 5 to 18. Just recently, the CEO of Moderna, one of the original Covid-19 vaccine producers, said that annual shots should be targeted at those aged 50 and over:
Not everyone needs to get an annual Covid booster, according to the head of pharma giant Moderna who also likened the virus to seasonal flu.
Stéphane Bancel said his company’s shots should mainly be targeted at over-50s and people with underlying health conditions.
His comments seem to be at odds with the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) which is urging everyone over the age of five to get boosted.
Mr Bancel told a finance conference on Monday: ‘I think it’s going to be like the flu. If you’re a 25-year-old, do you need an annual booster every year if you’re healthy?
‘You might want to… but I think it’s going to be similar to flu where it’s going to be people at high-risk, people above 50 years of age, people with comorbidities, people with cancer and other conditions, people with transplants.’
In other words, let pediatricians and parents decide what is best for young children, not a nameless, faceless advisory panel at the CDC mandating shots for everyone.
It didn’t take long for states to start responding. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin released a Tweet on Thursday explicitly announcing that his state would not follow the guidance and that such decisions should be left to parents:
COVID-19 mandates should be in our rear view mirror. The decision to vaccinate a child against COVID-19 is for Virginia parents to make about what’s best for them and their family. We will not adhere to these @CDCgov mandates.
In Virginia, parents matter.
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) October 21, 2022
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also announced his own rebuke of the CDC guidance saying his state will never mandate Covid-19 shots for children:
As long as I am Governor, in Florida there will not be a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for children in our schools. pic.twitter.com/oDXAj3c4Oy
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 20, 2022
As DeSantis aptly notes, there are shots that have been on the childhood immunization schedule for decades, such as the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccination. These are shots that have been around and tested and experienced for years and years with mountains of data. The Covid-19 shots, on the other hand, have not undergone significant testing in children and many valid questions remain about whether they’re necessary or safe in the long term.
Gov. Kay Ivey, of Alabama, also joined the march against the CDC:
Here in Alabama, the parents make decisions when it comes to their children’s health care. We do NOT mandate the covid shot for kids – nor will we ever. #alpolitics
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) October 20, 2022
Even some candidates have gotten in the mix to take a stand such as Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for Governor in Arizona who was asked about the CDC decision at a campaign event:
This is my promise to Arizona.
This an experimental shot.
Our Children are NOT guinea pigs.
When I'm Governor, the Covid Vax will NEVER be mandatory for our precious children.
NEVER. pic.twitter.com/I6NjUwwRDU
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 19, 2022
This is yet one more overreach by an agency that has largely shattered much of the public trust it built for decades. There is no scientific backing for such a move considering that children show the least susceptibility to any serious cases of Covid-19 and the shots have been proven ineffective in terms of preventing transmission.
In short, the federal government just handed Republicans another campaign issue heading into the midterms with just a few weeks to go.
