As respiratory virus season approaches, more than half of US children face uncertainty over access to this year’s COVID-19 shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has unexpectedly delayed distribution of the vaccines through the federal Vaccine for Children (VFC) program, which provides free vaccines to uninsured, underinsured, Medicaid-eligible, or Indigenous children. Approximately 52 percent of all US children are eligible for vaccines through the program. Additionally, at least 11 states and one US territory—Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming, and American Samoa—are part of a universal vaccine purchase program, buying all vaccines for children regardless of ability to pay or insurance status.

Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told The Guardian, “The delay in VFC means delays in these states’ ability to get vaccine for all children.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stated that procurement decisions for COVID-19 vaccines through VFC and Section 317 programs have not yet been finalized. HHS declined to explain the delay but suggested officials were questioning whether children should receive the vaccine. The delay aligns with Kennedy’s long-standing opposition to COVID-19 vaccines, which he has falsely labeled “the deadliest vaccine[s] ever made” and blamed for child deaths without evidence.