GREEN BAY (NBC26) — NBC 26 asked people in northeast Wisconsin their thoughts after Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced pregnant people and healthy kids aren't recommended for COVID-19 shots.
- Meet a mother and a grandmother with differing opinions on the latest recommendations
- NBC 26 asked for comment from a healthcare provider at Bellin and Prevea Health, neither had someone available to speak on the announcement
- Quotes from Trinidad Ordaz, a Green Bay grandmother, have been translated from Spanish to English in the following web article
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
As of Tuesday, healthy kids and pregnant women are no longer recommended to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced the change in vaccine recommendations after a Food and Drug Administration statement that there's not enough evidence healthy people under 65 would benefit from an additional shot. I'm Pari Apostolakos reporting in-studio. and I asked our neighbors their thoughts on the announcement.
Meet two Green Bay women with different opinions on the updated COVID-19 vaccine recommendations in the video below:
As of Tuesday night the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website states everyone more than six months old should get a 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine. But, Scripps News Group reports Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says these recommendations were made without clinical data to support people getting repeat booster shots.
"It's behind us and hopefully COVID-19 won't come back and, you know, we can kind of just move on," Ellen Petrie, a mom I met while she was playing with her kids at Pamperin Park Tuesday, said. Petrie says she was required by her job to get the vaccine when it was first released, but now regrets going through with it.
"I think it's your choice at this point if it's something that you do want to continue," Petrie said.
According to their website, the World Health Organization recommends another dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during each pregnancy. The WHO also says kids six months to 17 years old are a "low priority" group for getting the vaccine. The organization writes vaccinating kids post-pandemic "has limited public health impact."
"For the children and for the adults, well, if they need it and can't pay for it, there should be a resource for them to be covered," Grandmother Trinidad Ordaz said while at Bay Beach Amusement Park's adjacent playground with her grandkids Tuesday. Ordaz said she doesn't agree with the new recommendation.
Scripps News Group reports it is unclear what the new lack of recommendation will mean for people who still want to get the shot since it may no longer be covered by insurance providers.
Ordaz says she believes people should be vaccinated
"If they get COVID or any other disease, if they are vaccinated they are protected," Ordaz said.
According to the latest data available from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, an average number of 82 patients in the state are hospitalized with COVID-19.
