ATLANTA, GEORGIA — Today, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to add COVID-19 mRNA substances to the regular childhood vaccination schedule. The decision is controversial, since the effectiveness of the shots has been called into question, as well as their safety profile. The committee voted yesterday to add the COVID-19 injections to the Vaccines for Kids program, which guarantees free shots for children on Medicaid or who are uninsured, underinsured or Native American.
The approval means that the gene therapy makers’ liability for injuries will transfer from the corporations to the federal government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). This entails that the financial responsibility for the shots will shift to the tax payer. The drug makers have so far been shielded from liability under the PREP Act, but that coverage expires in 2023.
Adding a vaccine to the standard schedule likely means that many states – if not most – will require it for children to have access to public school and participate in other childcare programs. However, the DeSantis administration is clear that this will not be the case in Florida:
“The CDC’s vote changes nothing in Florida. Thanks to the leadership of Governor DeSantis, COVID-19 vaccine mandates are against the law, and the Florida Department of Health continues to lead the nation in a data-driven approach to COVID-19. As such, Florida does not recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children,” Governor DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin told The Florida Standard.
The ACIP members were apparently unfazed by very critical public comments before the vote, among them a woman who called the injection of children with the substances “crimes against humanity” and that the members would be held responsible in a trial under the Nuremberg Code.
The CDC decision comes just a few days after the European Medicines Agency approved the European versions of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines for children 6 months and up in the European Union.
