Dr. Marty Makary, the Johns Hopkins surgeon and professor whom President Donald Trump tapped to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, says it’s up to patients and their doctors whether they should get the COVID-19 vaccine — not the federal government.

Makary stood alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier in the week as the controversial Health and Human Services secretary announced changes to COVID-19 recommendations. Kennedy revoked the recommendation that the shots should be offered to pregnant women and healthy children.

“We’re not going to push the COVID shot in young, healthy kids without any clinical trial data supporting it,” Makary said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “That is a decision between a parent and their doctor.”

It’s unclear how the departure in the nation’s COVID-19 policies — which began during Trump’s first term with “Operation Warp Speed” — could impact school mandates, health care guidance and insurance coverage of vaccines.

The change comes as vaccination rates among children and pregnant women remain low. Last season, 12% of pregnant women received the COVID-19 shot, and 88% of parents opted not to vaccinate their children, Makary said, citing federal data.

Kennedy’s decision was welcomed by vaccine skeptics and those who opposed the firings of workers who had opted out of the COVID-19 shots. But Kennedy’s decision also drew concerns because it came without consulting the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“That panel has been a kangaroo court where they just rubber-stamp every vaccine put in front of them,” Makary said.

It wasn’t the first time Makary defended the Trump administration’s recent moves on vaccines. Since Kennedy’s announcement Tuesday, Makary has made media rounds and public statements urging patients to rely on clinical decision-making with their medical providers and not government guidance.

“We’re going to get away from these blanket recommendations in healthy young Americans,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “We don’t want to see kids kicked out of school because a 12-year-old girl is not getting her fifth COVID booster shot.”

Makary added that the administration’s health leaders don’t see data to support administering annual COVID-19 vaccines or repeat boosters to young, healthy children in perpetuity.

This is in line with what U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, a doctor and Maryland’s lone Republican in Congress, has been saying for years. In April, he said Kennedy would be “well within his right” to reverse the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children.

“From the beginning, I voiced concern that the Covid studies that recommended routine Covid vaccines for children were based on politics rather than science,” Harris said on X.

Maryland’s congressional Democrats have not commented publicly on the policy change.

New COVID variant

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan noted that the departure on COVID-19 guidance comes as public health experts share concerns as a new variant, NB.1.8.1, circulates in the U.S., South America, Asia and Europe. Although officials say the variant does not currently pose a significant threat, critics worry the administration’s changing guidance could sow confusion and reduce vaccinations on the verge of a possible summer uptick in cases.

Makary downplayed those concerns Sunday and said COVID-19 is beginning to behave like a seasonal cold. When pressed on whether it’s safer for children to be vaccinated or get the virus for the first time without being vaccinated, Makary said there’s a lack of randomized controlled data for repeat vaccinations in healthy kids.

“The worst thing you can do in public health is to put out an absolute, universal recommendation for young, healthy kids without data,” he said. “That is a decision between a parent and their doctor.”

CDC data shows that 41% of children hospitalized with COVID-19 between 2022 and 2024 had no known underlying health conditions.

Makary questioned the accuracy of that statistic, arguing that many hospitalizations included children who tested positive incidentally while being treated for other issues.

The federal government’s new guidance applies to healthy pregnant women. Makary co-authored a May 20 article in the New England Journal of Medicine that identified pregnancy as a risk factor for severe COVID-19. When Brennan asked him what changed about his position from that day to his Tuesday announcement with Kennedy, he said the article simply listed conditions historically considered high-risk and reiterated the new position: Decisions should be left to individuals and their physicians.

“Their doctor will use their best wisdom and judgment,” Makary said.

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