Kennedy Ends Emergency Use Authorization for Covid Vaccines

HHS Secretary Kennedy Pulls Emergency Use Authorization for Covid Vaccines, But Insures They're Still Available for All Who Want Them

On Tuesday, June 30, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. terminated the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), the Food and Drug Administration’s Covid-era declaration used in public health emergencies that enables the government to expedite critical medical counter-measures, such as authorizing vaccines.

Kennedy posted on X , reminding the public that he had promised four things: to end covid vaccine mandates; to keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable; to demand placebo-controlled trials from companies; and to end the emergency.

“In a series of FDA actions today we accomplished all four goals,” Kennedy wrote. “The emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded.”

In a press release posted on the HHS website, Kennedy further stated, “Americans deserve a regulatory system that is transparent, accountable, and rooted in the rule of law. By ending these COVID-19 emergency use authorization declarations, we’re reinforcing public confidence that emergency authorities are temporary and targeted.”

Kennedy noted that the FDA is promulgating marketing authorization for high-risk groups: Moderna (6+ months), Pfizer (5+), and Novavax (12+).

“These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors,” Kennedy wrote on X. “The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense. This framework delivers all three.”

EUAs are granted by the FDA to medical products when no approved, alternative product is available. The Covid vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna were both made available through EUAs prior to receiving full FDA approval in 2021 and 2022.

The standards for EUAs and full FDA approval are different. In order for a product to receive an EUA, it must be determined that its potential benefits outweigh its potential risks. This is different from the standard that medical products must achieve for full FDA approval, which requires that manufacturers prove that those products are safe and effective.

In May, the FDA granted full approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for at-risk children, making it the first Covid vaccine, not through an EUA, available for children between 6 months and 11 years old.

Covid vaccines had been available to all children. In many states, these vaccines were mandatory for children. However, Kennedy announced earlier this year that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer recommended the vaccine to healthy children and pregnant women.

Kennedy’s latest move will likely raise the ire of major medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which has been instructing pediatricians to ignore federal recommendations and follow AAP’s guidance: that all children receive Covid vaccines – not only those at risk.

Last August, Kennedy criticized the AAP for being captured by corporate interests, noting that four companies “make virtually every vaccine on the CDC recommended childhood schedule.”

As an increasing percentage of the American public grows suspicious of the vaccine burden placed on America’s youth, the AAP appears woefully out of step.

And while many in the medical establishment oppose the latest changes that Kennedy has implemented, he has not reduced the availability of Covid vaccines for those who want them.