In a response to Ars on Thursday, HHS again did not respond to questions about what caused the delay or how it was resolved. The department did, however, confirm that ordering for COVID-19 vaccines is now open.
The unexplained delay comes after Kennedy has, for years, attacked and tried to block access to COVID-19 vaccines. He has falsely called them the “deadliest vaccine[s] ever made,” and petitioned the FDA to withdraw and bar approval for the shots. Last year, as health secretary, he unilaterally revoked the CDC’s universal recommendations for the vaccines.
An order from a federal judge in March halted other changes Kennedy and his allies had made to CDC vaccine recommendations. That leaves the CDC’s current recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines where they were in July 2025. At that point, the vaccines were recommended for children, 6 months to 17 years old, who are moderately to severely immunocompromised. Healthy children in that age group were recommended to obtain them through shared clinical decision-making—in other words, by talking with a pharmacist or doctor.
The newly approved CDC clinical guidance had an update added yesterday saying: “Because of legal uncertainties and inquiries, the CDC states the recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination from the July 2025 immunization schedule remain in effect for the 2026-2027 respiratory illness season.”
Still, those recommendations differ from those of leading medical groups. Their recommendations for this year’s fall vaccines say that all infants 6 months to 23 months old should get vaccinated against COVID-19. Children 2 to 18 years old should be vaccinated if they are at higher risk or if they desire to be vaccinated.
