Australia Ends COVID Vaccine Recommendation for Healthy Children One Week After the US

The Australian government is no longer recommending the COVID vaccine for healthy kids, saying benefits of vaccination are not likely to outweigh harm.

A young child receives a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination. in Needham, Mass., on June 21, 2022. Those who have been injured by the vaccine are not allowed to be heard. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

One week after the U.S. government amended its recommendations on the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children, Australia has followed suit.

On May 27, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) announced it would narrow its COVID vaccine recommendations.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunisation schedule,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a video on the social media platform X.

One week later, on June 3, an update appeared on the Australian government’s Australian Immunisation Handbook website.

“COVID-19 vaccine is not recommended for healthy infants, children, or adolescents who do not have medical conditions that increase their risk of severe illness,” the update reads.

A pharmacist prepares a COVID-19 vaccination booster shot in Melbourne, Australia, on July 11, 2022. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

“This is because the risk of severe illness was extremely low in this cohort over the course of the pandemic, and benefits of vaccination are not considered to outweigh the potential harms.”

While the Australian government still recommends the vaccine for pregnant women who have never received it, it has issued a caution to pregnant women who have previously received the jab.

“Previously vaccinated pregnant women who have no conditions that increase the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 have a very low risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications from Omicron infection,” according to the government’s website.

The changing perspective on COVID vaccines has drawn feelings of both vindication and frustration from long-time opponents of the jab who saw it as having more potential to harm than protect.

Former politician George Christensen is among them.

“I’m awaiting apologies from the political and media elite for being pilloried for saying three years ago what authorities now admit to be true,” he said on X.

Senator Renews Calls for Royal Commission

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has renewed calls for a Royal Commission into the handling of COVID in Australia following the change in recommendations.

Taking to X, Roberts called for an immediate Royal Commission.

“So is the (Therapeutic Goods Association) TGA going to be banned for spreading the same ’misinformation' I was banned for years ago?” he said.

Since the pandemic started, Roberts has spoken out about how the virus was managed in Australia, particularly mandates that prevented people from keeping their jobs unless they agreed to receive the COVID vaccine and subsequent booster shots.

Roberts said in a previous statement that some Australians were still being asked to have the COVID shot, and up to three boosters, in order to receive or maintain employment.