October 28, 2022

Top 10 reasons the CDC blew it by adding COVID-19 vaccines to their Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule By C.J. Baker, MD The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on October 20, 2022. Despite the protestations of child advocates and physicians (including your humble correspondent), the committee voted unanimously to add the COVID-19 vaccines to the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule. Put bluntly, the committee blew it. Scientifically, ethically, and as public policy, this was a terrible decision — and one that, if allowed to stand, will cause irreparable harm to countless American children. Here are the Top 10 Reasons that C

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on October 20, 2022.  Despite the protestations of child advocates and physicians (including your humble correspondent), the committee voted unanimously to add the COVID-19 vaccines to the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.

Put bluntly, the committee blew it.  Scientifically, ethically, and as public policy, this was a terrible decision — and one that, if allowed to stand, will cause irreparable harm to countless American children.

Here are the top ten reasons that COVID-19 vaccines should not be on the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule:

  1. The risk/benefit ratio of the COVID-19 vaccines is UNFAVORABLE for children.  It is now known beyond debate that the risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19 a) is strongly correlated with advancing age, b) is declining over time as the virus continues to mutate, and c) is and always has been vanishingly small in children.  Comparison to VAERS and EudraVigilance data shows much greater risk to children from COVID-19 vaccine-adverse events than from COVID-19 infection itself.
  2. The COVID-19 vaccines do NOT stop a recipient from either contracting the disease or transmitting it to others. Exhibit A for this would be the recent COVID-19 diagnosis of the reportedly quintuple-vaxxed CDC director, Rochelle Walensky.  These vaccines are ineffective in efforts to create herd immunity — unlike many of the established vaccines for other diseases that are already on the schedule.
  3. The CDC decision ignores natural immunity.  The CDC itself has released recent data showing that 86% of school-aged American children already have had prior COVID-19 infection.  With the committee’s decision, the CDC yet again dismisses natural immunity as a protective factor against COVID-19 disease — a position so unscientific and intellectually dishonest that other factors (political, monetary) seem the only plausible explanation for it.
  4. The COVID-19 vaccines have NO long-term safety data.  How could they?  They have been in use less than two years.  Young children receiving these vaccines will live for up to a century having to deal with the unforeseen risks of these injections, the magnitude of which we have zero knowledge of at present.
  5. The COVID-19 vaccines have much more worrisome safety data than vaccines already on the schedule.  COVID-19 vaccines have well known, well demonstrated, significant toxicities in children and young persons (e.g., myocarditis) that occur in significant excess relative to other vaccines currently on the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.  Reports of vaccine-related deaths from COVID-19 vaccines far outnumber reports related to other time-tested vaccines already on the CDC schedule.
  6. The CDC’s decision completely contradicts those of multiple nations who have made appropriate risk/benefit analyses and ended pediatric COVID-19 vaccine programs. Sweden, the rare nation that remained mostly sane in its COVID-19 policies since the onset of the pandemic, never recommended COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12 and has now ceased to recommend them in older children as well.  Denmark no longer offers COVID-19 vaccines to any healthy children under 18.  The CDC, to my knowledge, has never publicly addressed the decisions of these nations or why they were made.
  7. Adding COVID-19 vaccines to the CDC schedule will absolutely result in their being required for school attendance in many states.  The CDC has, rather disingenuously, stated that their schedules are not mandates.  However, the COVID-19 era has taught us that most health commissioners and school officials, especially in Democrat-run states, treat CDC recommendations as gospel.  Gavin Newsom in California has already stated he will mandate COVID-19 vaccines for schools in California.  Kathy Hochul in New York and Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan will no doubt do the same if re-elected.  These recommendations are effectively mandates for millions of American children — approximately 13 million in California and New York alone.
  8. The decision is completely out of step with most American parents.  The CDC’s own data show that most parents have chosen not to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19.  Furthermore, the younger the age group, the lower the percentage of children vaccinated.  And somehow, these children have survived COVID-19!  In essence, parents have collectively shown a degree of logic, common sense, and ability to perform basic risk-benefit analyses that seems completely beyond the capacity of the CDC.  The only remaining question for many thinking, concerned parents seems to be whether the CDC a) doesn’t give a damn about children, b) is completely incompetent, c) is completely corrupt, or d) all of the above.
  9. Mandating these new and minimally tested therapies on millions of American schoolchildren will further undermine trust in the immunization schedule for years to come.  In short, it will backfire.  Population-wide confidence in the current vaccine schedules has already been seriously undermined by the COVID-19 vaccine policies that have caused countless Americans (including thousands of health care workers) to lose their jobs.  In my practice, I now find a number of patients refusing some or even all vaccines, despite my recommendations otherwise, as a result of the coercion they felt regarding COVID-19.  This will happen at the pediatric level, as well, if COVID-19 vaccines are imposed on schoolchildren.  The horrible irony is that children will suffer and die for lack of beneficial vaccines as a result of the CDC’s attempts to force unnecessary COVID-19 vaccines on them.  This is public health malfeasance of the worst kind.
  10. The prime directive of medicine is primum non nocere — first, do no harm.  At present, the risk/benefit ratio for the COVID-19 vaccines in children is not even close.  The CDC committee’s decision gives the middle finger to all four pillars of medical ethics: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice.  For this reason alone, it should have never been made.

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recent unanimous decision to add COVID-19 vaccination to the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule is shameful.  It is unscientific, unethical, bad policy.  It is further evidence — if we need any more at this stage in the COVID-19 saga — that the public health bureaucracy in the United States is corrupt and broken, perhaps beyond repair.

The potential electoral defeat of gubernatorial COVID-19 tyrants like Kathy Hochul or Gretchen Whitmer would provide respite to millions of families and children, and would be most welcome to the vulnerable in those states.  However, the dismantling of the medical-industrial complex in Washington, D.C. is the only ultimate solution to the seemingly endless governmental assault on medical autonomy that the COVID-19 pandemic has made so obvious.

Image via Public Domain Pictures.

OVID-19 Vaccines should NOT be on the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule: 1. The risk/benefit ratio of the COVID-19 vaccines is UNFAVORABLE for children. It is now known beyond debate that the risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19 a) is strongly correlated with advancing age, b) is declining over time as the virus continues to mutate, and c) is and always has been vanishingly small in children. Comparison to VAERS and EudraVigilance data shows much greater risk to children from COVID-19 vaccine-adverse events than from COVID-19 infection itself. 2. The COVID-19 vaccines do NOT stop a recipient from either contracting the disease or transmitting it to others. Exhibit A for this would be the recent COVID-19 diagnosis of the reportedly quintuple-vaxxed CDC director, Rochelle Walensky. These vaccines are ineffective in efforts to create herd immunity — unlike many of the established vaccines for other diseases that are already on the schedule. 3. The CDC decision ignores natural immunity. The CDC itself has released recent data showing that 86% of school-aged American children already have had prior COVID-19 infection. With the committee’s decision, the CDC yet again dismisses natural immunity as a protective factor against COVID-19 disease — a position so unscientific and intellectually dishonest that other factors (political, monetary) seem the only plausible explanation for it. 4. The COVID-19 vaccines have NO long-term safety data. How could they? They have been in use less than two years. Young children receiving these vaccines will live for up to a century having to deal with the unforeseen risks of these injections, the magnitude of which we have zero knowledge of at present. 5. The COVID-19 vaccines have much more worrisome safety data than vaccines already on the schedule. COVID-19 vaccines have well known, well demonstrated, significant toxicities in children and young persons (e.g., myocarditis) that occur in significant excess relative to other vaccines currently on the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule. Reports of vaccine-related deaths from COVID-19 vaccines far outnumber reports related to other time-tested vaccines already on the CDC schedule. 6. The CDC’s decision completely contradicts those of multiple nations who have made appropriate risk/benefit analyses and ended pediatric COVID-19 vaccine programs. Sweden, the rare nation that remained mostly sane in its COVID-19 policies since the onset of the pandemic, never recommended COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12 and has now ceased to recommend them in older children as well. Denmark no longer offers COVID-19 vaccines to any healthy children under 18. The CDC, to my knowledge, has never publicly addressed the decisions of these nations or why they were made. 7. Adding COVID-19 vaccines to the CDC schedule will absolutely result in their being required for school attendance in many states. The CDC has, rather disingenuously, stated that their schedules are not mandates. However, the COVID-19 era has taught us that most health commissioners and school officials, especially in Democrat-run states, treat CDC recommendations as gospel. Gavin Newsom in California has already stated he will mandate COVID-19 vaccines for schools in California. Kathy Hochul in New York and Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan will no doubt do the same if re-elected. These recommendations are effectively mandates for millions of American children — approximately 13 million in California and New York alone. 8. The decision is completely out of step with most American parents. The CDC’s own data show that most parents have chosen not to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19. Furthermore, the younger the age group, the lower the percentage of children vaccinated. And somehow, these children have survived COVID-19! In essence, parents have collectively shown a degree of logic, common sense, and ability to perform basic risk-benefit analyses that seems completely beyond the capacity of the CDC. The only remaining question for many thinking, concerned parents seems to be whether the CDC a) doesn’t give a damn about children, b) is completely incompetent, c) is completely corrupt, or d) all of the above. 9. Mandating these new and minimally tested therapies on millions of American schoolchildren will further undermine trust in the immunization schedule for years to come. In short, it will backfire. Population-wide confidence in the current vaccine schedules has already been seriously undermined by the COVID-19 vaccine policies that have caused countless Americans (including thousands of health care workers) to lose their jobs. In my practice, I now find a number of patients refusing some or even all vaccines, despite my recommendations otherwise, as a result of the coercion they felt regarding COVID-19. This will happen at the pediatric level, as well, if COVID-19 vaccines are imposed on schoolchildren. The horrible irony is that children will suffer and die for lack of beneficial vaccines as a result of the CDC’s attempts to force unnecessary COVID-19 vaccines on them. This is public health malfeasance of the worst kind. 10. The prime directive of medicine is primum non nocere — first, do no harm. At present, the risk/benefit ratio for the COVID-19 vaccines in children is not even close. The CDC committee’s decision gives the middle finger to all four pillars of medical ethics: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. For this reason alone, it should have never been made. The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recent unanimous decision to add COVID-19 vaccination to the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule is shameful. It is unscientific, unethical, bad policy. It is further evidence — if we need any more at this stage in the COVID-19 saga — that the public health bureaucracy in the United States is corrupt and broken, perhaps beyond repair. The potential electoral defeat of gubernatorial COVID-19 tyrants like Kathy Hochul or Gretchen Whitmer would provide respite to millions of families and children, and would be most welcome to the vulnerable in those states. However, the dismantling of the medical-industrial complex in Washington, D.C. is the only ultimate solution to the seemingly endless governmental assault on medical autonomy that the COVID-19 pandemic has made so obvious.