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U.S. Officials Weigh Linking Child Deaths to COVID Vaccinations Amid Proposed Policy Shift

Vaccine makers, including Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax, continue to defend the safety of their products, noting that regulatory agencies worldwide have reviewed pediatric and pregnancy data and found no new safety issues.

• By Newsdesk
• Washington DC
• Sep 15, 2025

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Senior health officials in the Trump administration are reportedly preparing to assert a link between COVID-19 vaccinations and the deaths of 25 children. The claim, drawn from federal adverse event reporting data, is expected to be presented to advisers of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of upcoming vaccine policy deliberations.

The argument hinges on reports from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a database that collects potential vaccine side effects but does not establish causality. Public health experts have cautioned that raw VAERS entries are not proof of vaccine-related harm and must be carefully assessed alongside other evidence.

According to officials familiar with the matter, advisers are also weighing narrower eligibility criteria for COVID-19 shots. Under the proposed changes, routine vaccination would be recommended mainly for children, teenagers and pregnant women with underlying health conditions, while healthy individuals in these groups might no longer be automatically urged to vaccinate.

Vaccine makers, including Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax, continue to defend the safety of their products, noting that regulatory agencies worldwide have reviewed pediatric and pregnancy data and found no new safety issues.

The prospect of scaling back vaccine guidance has sparked criticism from leading medical groups. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for instance, maintains its support for vaccination of children and pregnant individuals regardless of health status.

These developments come under the leadership of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has already curtailed vaccine research funding, softened recommendations and reshaped the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. The committee is set to meet on September 18–19 to debate the revised COVID-19 vaccination policies.