No. 68 of 108
August 20, 2025
The American Academy of Pediatrics announced its strong recommendation that all children aged 6-23 months receive a COVID-19 vaccination, as well as older children in certain risk groups. This was the Center for Disease Control’s guidance until this year. Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, CDC withdrew government endorsement of vaccinations and said children can take vaccinations if parents and doctors agree. The CDC immediately issued a statement saying that the Academy should “strengthen conflict-of-interest safeguards and keep its publications free from financial influence”. Children under the age of two years have the highest rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations of all children, comparable to folx age 50-64.
In civil society, we count on experts to guide us, to say – in their knowledgeable and tested views – what is safe, what is not safe, what is highly or strongly recommended to keep us safe and well. It is rare for expert recommendations to make a U-turn based on ideas that had been proven to be sieves holding water. When such reversals are made, it matters whether other knowledge keepers and practitioners step up, as a matter of their kuleana, their mutual responsibility. This can take courage, and well-placed confidence in the knowledge they have kuleana for. Thank you, American Academy of Pediatrics, for the future lives of our children.