STAT The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved updated Covid boosters, but removed emergency use authorizations for the vaccines, in a set of moves that could make the shots more difficult to obtain for children under 5, in particular.
The moves were announced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, in a post on the social media site X. He portrayed the actions as fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse Covid-era policies while still allowing people to access vaccines. “I promised 4 things,” Kennedy wrote. “1. to end covid vaccine mandates; 2. to keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable; 3. to demand placebo-controlled trials from companies; 4. to end the emergency.
“In a series of FDA actions today we accomplished all four goals. The emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded.”