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Pediatrics group's COVID-19 vaccine recommendations differ from CDC advice

By
Sara Moniuszko
Reporter, Lifestyle & Wellness
Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper's wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News' HealthWatch.
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Sara Moniuszko

/ CBS News

The American Academy of Pediatrics is sharing new vaccine recommendations that, for the first time in 30 years, differ from U.S. government advice. 

In published Tuesday, the AAP is "strongly recommending" COVID-19 shots for children ages 6 months to 2 years old. For older children, shots are also advised but up to parents' discretion, the AAP said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advice is different. Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC doesn't recommend COVID-19 shots for healthy children of any age, but instead, the administration says kids may get the shots in consultation with physicians.

In  Tuesday, AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly, said the organization's immunization recommendations will continue to be "rooted in science" and in the "best interest of the health of infants, children and adolescents."

"Pediatricians know how important routine childhood immunizations are in keeping children, families and their communities healthy and thriving," Kressly said. 

In a statement to CBS News, HHS communications director Andrew Nixon said the American people "deserve confidence that medical recommendations are based solely on science and public health."

"We call on the AAP to strengthen conflict-of-interest safeguards and keep its publications free from financial influence, ensuring every recommendation reflects only the best interests of America's children," the statement continued, in part, adding Kennedy has "stood firm in his commitment to science, transparency, and restoring public trust."

Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, says there's "a lot of noise out there" when it comes to vaccines. 

"Parents should really stick the course and make sure that their children get all of the routine childhood vaccinations," she said on "CBS Mornings Plus," adding that more announcements are expected from other professional societies in the coming weeks.

Gounder added AAP's recommendations are really just reaffirming what they've previously advised. 

"The first encounter with COVID should be with the shot, not with the virus," she said. "There is still a very high risk in younger children, particularly 6 months to 2 years, for hospitalization and severe complications if they get COVID."

The AAP's recommendations also included guidance for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, and flu vaccines.

For RSV, the APP recommends immunizations for infants younger than 8 months old who aren't protected via a vaccine from the pregnant parent, and for children 8 to 19 months old at high risk of severe infection. 

For the flu, the AAP recommends annual vaccines for all children starting at 6 months old, unless they have a medical reason that would prevent them from getting the vaccine. 

Edited by Sarah Lynch Baldwin

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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