Sept 16 (Reuters) - U.S. states are facing delays in obtaining COVID-19 vaccines for children through a federal immunization program, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not started accepting orders for COVID-19 shots, according to the report.
States provide free vaccines to children through the Vaccines for Children program, which covers about half of the country's youths, and to uninsured or underinsured
adults through a separate government program.
Commercially insured patients can already get shots at pharmacies such as CVS.
Government orders for COVID-19 shots are typically placed within two weeks of the vaccines becoming available for commercially insured programs, the report added.
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said COVID-19 does not follow the same predictable seasonal pattern as influenza and other respiratory viruses, and that an arbitrary September date should not be treated as a public health deadline for vaccine procurement.
The CDC is finalizing decisions on COVID-19 vaccine procurement through the Vaccines for Children and Section 317 programs, and more details will be available soon, the spokesperson added.
The holdup comes as the Trump administration scales back vaccine guidance. The CDC no longer recommends that all children get a COVID shot and is instead urging parents to consult their doctors. The agency had previously recommended that everyone age six months and older receive the vaccine.
A federal judge earlier this year blocked the administration from enacting a narrower vaccine schedule.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has publicly criticized the COVID vaccine, has pushed the administration to broadly step back from vaccine recommendations.
Vaccine hesitancy is rising nationwide, and measles outbreaks are spreading, with four measles-related deaths reported in Pennsylvania earlier on Tuesday.
Demand for COVID booster shots has already fallen sharply, and fewer than 10% of children aged six months to 17 were vaccinated last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing CDC data.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
