The Guardian Advocates for pregnant people said they are alarmed by Robert F Kennedy Jr’s unprecedented and unilateral decision to remove Covid-19 booster shots from the recommended immunization schedule.
A vaccine’s inclusion on the schedule is important for patient access, because many private health insurance plans determine which vaccines to cover based on the schedule.
“Covid-19’s impact on pregnancy is deeply personal to me,” said Dr Amanda Williams, interim chief medical officer at March of Dimes, a non-profit focused on the health of mothers and babies, in a statement.
“During the height of the pandemic, I cared for a healthy patient who was 32 weeks pregnant and tragically died from Covid-19 despite state-of-the-art medical care. One of her last words was that she wished she had taken the vaccine.”