Despite a reversal on guidance at the federal level, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services continues to recommend the current COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy and for every person 6 months and older to protect from serious COVID-19 illness and prevent spreading it to others.

The declaration came after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced May 27 that COVID-19 vaccines were no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.

In a 58-second video posted on the social media site X, Kennedy said he removed COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for those groups. No one from the CDC was in the video, and CDC officials referred questions about the announcement to Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Then Monday, Kennedy removed all 17 members of the CDC advisory panel that had been set to meet this month to make recommendations about the fall shots. Although it’s typically not viewed as a partisan board, the entire current roster of committee members were Biden appointees.

“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy explained in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, according to an Associated Press article. “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”

Kennedy also said the committee members had too many conflicts of interest. Currently, committee members are required to declare any potential such conflicts, as well as business interests, that arise during their tenure, according to the AP article. They also must disclose any possible conflicts at the start of each public meeting.

An anti-vaccine advocate before becoming health secretary, Kennedy said in May that annual COVID-19 booster shots have been recommended for children “despite the lack of any clinical data” to support that decision, according to the AP article.

But the Wisconsin DHS, in a news release put out before Kennedy’s latest move on the CDC advisory panel, called the current COVID-19 vaccine safe for use during pregnancy, and said vaccination can protect women and their infants after birth. Newborns depend on maternal antibodies from the vaccine for protection.

“The current COVID-19 vaccine was thoroughly reviewed for safety and effectiveness and continues to be an important tool in preventing severe illness and death,” DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson said in the news release.

That process included clinical trials and review by medical experts and authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the CDC director, Johnson said.

“The recent changes in CDC guidance were not made based on new data, evidence, or scientific or medical studies, nor was the guidance issued following normal processes,” the WDHS stated. “Following national approval, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services independently reviews FDA and CDC recommendations to provide clinical guidance to Wisconsin providers and the public.”

COVID-19 continues to cause illness, hospitalization and death, the DHS advised, adding it “encourages everyone to stay up to date on all recommended vaccinations to protect themselves and their loved ones from vaccine-preventable diseases. Wisconsinites can work with their health care provider to determine which vaccines are needed or find a vaccine provider at Vaccines.gov.”

Wisconsin Medicaid will also continue to cover the COVID-19 vaccine for eligible Medicaid members, including children and individuals who are pregnant, the Wisconsin agency said.

For more on COVID-19 in Wisconsin, go to the DHS website at https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/index.htm.