Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to keep the COVID-19 vaccine off the list of childhood immunizations and out of the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC).

“Every month, it seems that we hear more revealing details about COVID-19 and strong critiques about our government’s initial beliefs and response,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “For such relatively new and controversial vaccines to be added to the list of childhood immunizations at this point defies common sense and the rights of parents to decide what’s best for their families.”

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has voted to include the COVID-19 vaccination on the list of child immunizations along with including the shot in the VFC, even though kids have little risk of dying from this virus. Congress created the VFC for kids from low-income families to have access to free vaccines, but adding COVID-19 shots would just mean a big payout to pharmaceutical companies. The attorneys general letter notes, “COVID-19 does not pose the same danger to kids as polio or measles, nor does the vaccine provide the same protection to kids or adults.”

The ACIP, the CDC, and the medical community need to stop using children as a political football to advance their ideological agendas.

Joining General Brnovich in this letter to the CDC are the attorneys general of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah.