I’m writing to express my deep concern about HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s recommendation to stop giving Covid vaccines to pregnant women and babies. His policy is not just unkind — it’s dangerous.

As a physician who has watched both loved ones and others suffer from Covid, I know how serious this virus can be. Pregnant women have a higher risk of getting severe illness, and their newborns are too young to be vaccinated. Taking away this protection leaves both mother and child vulnerable. Infants under six months are hospitalized at rates like people in their 60s. Why take that risk?

Kennedy’s decision ignored expert advice, bypassed the CDC’s advisory committee, and was based on his own flawed personal beliefs — not science. He called it “common sense,” but to the families who lost loved ones to Covid, this feels like a cruel insult.

Vaccines are a critical tool to protect the most fragile among us: babies, pregnant women, and seniors. Blocking access to vaccines doesn’t help anyone, and puts lives at risk, and reverses progress in public health.

Kennedy says this is how to “make America healthy again.” But letting people suffer and die from a preventable illness won’t make anyone healthier.

Everyone should be free to choose protection for their families. We must demand that this life-saving vaccine remains available to those who need and want it. Please call your representatives and speak up — before more lives are put in danger.

Lawrence Pareles, MD 

Florence