CDC study says Covid shots continue to protect healthy kids from severe illness

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday finds that Covid vaccines continue to protect healthy children from severe illness — a conclusion top federal health officials have questioned in recent months.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday finds that Covid vaccines continue to protect healthy children from severe illness — a conclusion top federal health officials have questioned in recent months.

From late August 2024 to early September 2025, the vaccines reduced the risk of Covid-related emergency room and urgent care visits by 76% among children ages 9 months to 4 years and by 56% among children ages 5-17, according to the study.

The findings, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), are based on an analysis of roughly 98,000 emergency room and urgent care visits. Children included in the study had various levels of immunity from previous Covid vaccinations and infections, so the study solely looked at added protection from 2024-25 Covid vaccines, the authors wrote.

The study appears to counter claims by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the vaccines’ effectiveness and address doubts raised by other federal health officials about whether children benefit from continuing to receive Covid shots.

It comes amid widespread concern from public health experts that the CDC has lost scientific credibility, as well as claims from former high-ranking staffers that the agency’s political leaders have interfered with scientific research.