(Reuters) - Trump health officials are planning to link coronavirus vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting access to the shots, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing four people familiar with the matter.
The findings appear to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) that contains unverified reports of side effects or bad experiences with vaccines, the report added.
Reuters has not independently verified the report.
Shares of vaccine makers Moderna fell nearly 8%, while Pfizer slipped more than 3%.
Trump health officials plan to include the pediatric deaths claim in a presentation next week to an influential panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is considering new COVID vaccine recommendations, the report added.
Regulators in more than 90 countries have not identified any new or undisclosed concerns in children or pregnant women for Moderna's COVID shot, the company said in an email response.
In an interview on CNN last week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said "there have been children who have died from the COVID vaccine," citing the self reported VAERS database.
"We're doing a proper investigation," he said in that interview noting that the FDA plans to release a report in the coming weeks.
The U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of the vaccines, has significantly rolled back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. The agency has dropped routine vaccination guidance for healthy children, teenagers and pregnant women, and narrowed eligibility to older adults and people with underlying medical conditions.
The policy shift has sparked pushback from medical and public health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for children and pregnant women.
President Donald Trump has backed Kennedy despite congressional pressure, public health concerns and the political risks of changing vaccine policies nationwide.
Kennedy has also slashed funding for vaccine research and ousted the head of the CDC, which makes U.S. vaccine recommendations.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Pfizer did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shinjini Ganguli)
