'Is anyone surprised that the public is now hesitant to believe ANY CDC recommendations?,' Paul asks
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine immunization schedule advises, in the case of the 2024-2025 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, three doses for children ages 6 months old through 4 years old — and Sen. Rand Paul has suggested that such guidance is leading to public hesitancy to trust the agency's recommendations.
"Pfizer drug reps…Uh, I mean, the Biden/Harris CDC, insists your 6-month-old get 3 COVID vaccines despite no scientific studies demonstrating decreased hospitalization or death. Is anyone surprised that the public is now hesitant to believe ANY CDC recommendations?" the lawmaker posted.
Regarding the 2024-2025 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC's vaccine schedule suggests previously unvaccinated children in the 6-month through 4-year-old age bracket should receive an initial dose, followed by another "at least 3–8 weeks after Dose 1," and a third "at least 8 weeks after Dose 2."
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) listens to White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID Dr. Anthony Fauci at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 11, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)
"An 8-week interval between the first and second doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine might be optimal for some people, as it might reduce the rare risk of myocarditis and pericarditis associated with COVID-19 vaccines," the CDC notes.
Paul, who tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, noted in 2021 that he had not been vaccinated.
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In this photo illustration, a syringe and an illustrative vial with COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine are seen in front of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logo. (Pavlo Conchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
"So, when I go out to the media and say that I, as a recovered COVID patient, will not get a vaccine that is not proven to help me nor proved I even need — the science deniers, bureaucrats and media typically go nuts," he wrote in an opinion piece posted by the Courier Journal.
"But facts are facts. I’m no more likely to get or transmit COVID than someone who is vaccinated," he continued.
The lawmaker has served in the Senate since 2011 and was most recently re-elected in 2022.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questions Samantha Power, nominee to be administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the CDC for comment but did not receive a response.
Fox News Digital also reached out to offer Sen. Rand Paul the opportunity to provide a comment about his post, but his communications director declined.
Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.
