FDA Approves Updated COVID Vaccines, Restricts Access
In today’s episode of The Trump Administration is Actively Trying to Kill Us, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated COVID-19 vaccines, but added new restrictions greatly limiting access to anyone who isn’t over 65 or has an underlying health condition.
According to NPR, before this updated guidance, anyone six months or older could access a COVID vaccine regardless of their health status. The FDA announced that the updated vaccines will be limited to people who have underlying health conditions or are 65 and older. Experts are concerned that the new guidance will create confusion and make it harder for otherwise healthy adults to access a vaccine.
“I’m feeling a little déjà vu,” Clare Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, told NPR. “There’s a lot of anxiety about being able to get the vaccine.” The restrictions could result in insurance companies being unwilling to pay for the updated COVID vaccines, doctors may decline to prescribe them, and pharmacies may forgo stocking and administering them.
“The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense. This framework delivers all three,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X about the new regulations. Common sense would be allowing parents and grown adults to decide for themselves on whether or not they want the updated COVID vaccine, not placing restrictions that aren’t rooted in scientific evidence.
RFK Jr.’s entire platform has been “Make America Healthy Again,” but most of his actions have had the opposite effect. He’s one of the most notable voices in the anti-vaxxer movement and has kept that energy throughout his time as Health and Human Services Secretary. He slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants for groundbreaking mRNA vaccines, implemented layoffs that made it harder for food safety inspectors to do their job, and replaced all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee with like-minded vaccine skeptics.
It’s become quite clear that RFK Jr. prioritizes his feelings about vaccines over scientific evidence, which tracks considering he was appointed to the role of Health and Human Services Secretary despite having no scientific or medical background. He’s just a boomer whose policy decisions seem to be based on whatever vaccine conspiracy theory he reads on Facebook.
“The restrictions are not following the science of what these vaccines can and will do,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told NPR. “This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
As someone with asthma, I find the COVID-19 vaccine restrictions quite alarming. I’ve been getting a COVID vaccine along with my flu shot every winter for the last four years. Respiratory illness feels so much worse when your lungs already don’t agree with you, and straight up, I just don’t like getting sick. I’m hoping I’ll still be able to access a vaccine this year. While the CDC lists asthma as a qualifying condition, who knows if my insurance will still cover the updated COVID vaccine or if it will be easily available?
I’m most concerned about my mom, who’s not over 65 and doesn’t have any underlying health conditions. That said, when she gets sick, she gets sick. As such, she never misses a flu shot or COVID booster. She’s not old, but she’s getting older. I don’t want my mom to be at risk for catching a bad case of COVID because RFK Jr.’s definition of “common sense” is making it harder for grown adults to make decisions about their bodies.
“I’m worried that this puts the entire American population at risk for severe COVID disease and the complications associated with it,” Dr. Tina Tan of Northwestern University, the president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, told NPR. “People who are not going to be able to get the vaccine if they want it. And you’re going to see an increase in the number of individuals that are hospitalized or that potentially could die.”
SEE ALSO:
Black Long COVID Research Finds Alarming Results
RFK Jr. Axes COVID Vaccines For Pregnant Women, Healthy Kids
FDA Approves Updated COVID Vaccines, Restricts Access was originally published on newsone.com
