The HHS Secretary did a 180 on COVID jabs for children and pregnant women, a move that experts say will worsen outcomes — and limit access — for the Black community.
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Overview:
At the height of the pandemic, Black children were disproportionately hospitalized for the virus, while pregnant Black women are far more likely to die during childbirth than white women. Meanwhile, Black people accounted for an outsize share of COVID-19 deaths.
The data doesn’t lie: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Black people made up around 18% of all cases — and two out of every 10 deaths — despite being just 13% of the U.S. population. Black children who became infected were twice as likely as white kids to require hospitalization, and were more than five times as likely to be admitted to intensive care for treatment.
Meanwhile, Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women, one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world.
Yet Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday that he would end the government’s recommendation that children and healthy pregnant women get vaccinated for COVID-19 — despite clear evidence of the harm it would do to millions, especially the Black community.
In a video posted on social media, Kennedy said he removed COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for those groups.
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