Trump officials to link child deaths to COVID shots, Washington Post reports

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Trump health officials are planning to link COVID vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting access to the shots, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing four people familiar with the matter.

The findings appear to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, VAERS, that contains unverified reports of side effects or bad experiences with vaccines, the report added.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff routinely analyze VAERS and other safety monitoring data, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in an emailed response.

Until the vaccine safety data is shared publicly, this should be considered "pure speculation," the statement added.

Trump health officials plan to include the pediatric deaths claim in a presentation next week to an expert panel of advisers to the CDC that is considering new COVID vaccine recommendations, the report added.

Reuters has not independently verified the report.

Shares of vaccine makers Moderna MRNA.O fell 8%, while Pfizer PFE.N slipped more than 3% and U.S.-listed shares of its German partner BioNTech 22UAy.DE fell more than 9%. Novavax NVAX.O shares fell 4.3%.

Regulators in more than 90 countries have not identified any new or undisclosed concerns in children or pregnant women for Moderna's COVID shot, the company said in an email response.

Pfizer did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In an interview on CNN last week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said "there have been children who have died from the COVID vaccine," citing the self-reported VAERS database.

"We're doing a proper investigation," he said in that interview, noting that the FDA plans to release a report in the coming weeks.

The U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of the vaccines, has significantly rolled back COVID vaccine recommendations. The agency has dropped routine vaccination guidance for healthy children, teenagers and pregnant women, and while it cleared the vaccines for everyone over 65 years, it narrowed eligibility in younger population to people with underlying medical conditions.

Moderna's updated Spikevax shot is authorized for people six months and older with at least one underlying condition, while Pfizer and BioNTech's updated version of Comirnaty was approved for individuals ages 5 through 64 years with at least one high-risk condition. The 2022 emergency use authorization for the COVID vaccine for children under age 5 had been rescinded.

The policy shift has sparked pushback from medical and public health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for children and pregnant women.

President Donald Trump has backed Kennedy despite congressional pressure, public health concerns and the political risks of changing vaccine policies nationwide.

Kennedy has also slashed funding for vaccine research and ousted the head of the CDC, which makes U.S. vaccine recommendations, fired all 17 members of the vaccine expert panel and replaced them with hand-picked advisers.

The revamped advisory committee is scheduled to meet on September 18 and 19.