I have one more thought on the CDC’s contemplating adding Covid-19 vaccines to the recommended childhood-vaccine schedule: I cannot think of any move the CDC could make that would more likely increase general skepticism about vaccines.
Less than a third of American children aged 5–11 have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 under the emergency rules. Given the disparity between childhood- and adult-vaccination rates, it’s fair to conclude that many of those parents who are themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 have declined it for their kids. They may have looked at the data on childhood mortality and Covid and decided that it wasn’t an “emergency” at all, and not worth the risk to their children — spooked, perhaps, by reports of complications that seemed more preponderant in younger people. They may have observed that Europe hasn’t pushed the vaccine on children. Or their children may have already recovered from Covid before the vaccine became available.
I can’t help but think that millions of parents will think, “My child didn’t need a Covid vaccine and yet it’s being added to the schedule: Maybe the schedule itself is suspect.” This would lead them directly to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and to questions about why the vaccine schedule is expanding so quickly for young children.