The US is to stop recommending Covid vaccines.

Advisers to Robert F Kennedy Jnr, the US health secretary, on Friday voted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to adopt softer language around jabs for Covid,

They downgraded official advice from recommending the vaccine to telling Americans to make “individual decisions” on whether to get it.

The panel also urged the CDC to adopt stronger language around the supposed risks of vaccination.

Medical groups criticised the new recommendation, saying the the jabs had a proven safety record.

The divided panel avoided urging states to require a prescription for the shot, although the vote was close.

Dr Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics called the decision not to recommend vaccination “extraordinarily vague” and said it would have “real-time impacts on American children”.