LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan health officials are sticking with their COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for young children and pregnant women—even as federal guidance changes under Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said on July 28 that it continues to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for all individuals aged 6 months and older, citing guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

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“There is strong evidence that supports COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and for pediatric patients,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said in a statement.

The move comes in response to recent federal efforts to roll back universal vaccine recommendations for healthy children and expectant mothers. Kennedy’s HHS department issued new guidance suggesting such groups may no longer need routine COVID-19 shots—a shift Michigan officials appear to reject.

In fact, the state continues to repeat the same talking points: that vaccination is the best defense against COVID-19 and that it was approved only after “rigorous testing and safety review” by the FDA and CDC.

According to the department, the vaccine continues to undergo clinical trials, and MDHHS says it independently reviews all federal recommendations before passing them on to Michigan providers and the public.

“Vaccines are safe,” MDHHS said, “and have saved millions of lives and prevented tens of millions of hospitalizations in the US over the past 30 years.”