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Assessing Claims About COVID Vaccine Doses for Infants
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Assessing Claims About COVID Vaccine Doses for Infants

Internet users are misinterpreting the CDC vaccination guidelines.

Influenza vaccines at a health center on October 14, 2024, in Madrid, Spain. (Photo By Alberto Ortega/Europa Press/Getty Images)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to provide guidance toward COVID-19 vaccinations, listing recommended dosage levels for Americans of all ages. The CDC divides its COVID-19 vaccination recommendation based on four age groups: Children 6 months to 4 years old, children 5 to 11 years old, people ages 12 to 64, and people aged 65 or older. 

Claims circulating on social media platforms assert the CDC recommends that 6-month-old infants receive seven doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. These claims are false. Although some social media posts include images of the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccination guidance, users have misinterpreted the chart. 

“The CDC says that little 6 month old babies must get SEVEN doses of the Covid Vaccine 💉 in order to be considered fully ‘up to date’ on their vaccinations,” the X account “Died Suddenly” shared with its nearly 800,000 followers. “This isn’t including the dozens of other vaccinations leading up to 6 months. Pure evil.” The account is affiliated with the anti-vaccine movie Died Suddenly, which was released on Rumble in 2022, and is currently marketing “light-infused water” on its website. An image of the 2024-2025 CDC COVID-19 Immunization Schedule was included in the account’s tweet. Another X account with nearly 250,000 followers, “Sudden and Unexpected,”—and which also includes the hashtag “Died Suddenly” in its X profile—tweeted the same claim and image, verbatim. 

“According to the CDC,” tweeted the X account, “The General,” to its more than 100,000 followers, “6-month-old babies need seven doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be considered fully ‘up to date’ on their vaccinations.” Another X user tweeted the CDC immunization schedule, claiming, “They are murdering our children.”

The CDC’s 2024-2025 COVID-19 immunization schedule—the chart included in social media posts making the false claims—does not suggest infants receive anywhere near seven doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

For the age group ranging between 6 months and  4 years old, the CDC breaks down its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations based on prior dosages received. If the child has not yet received any COVID-19 vaccinations, then the CDC recommends three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech-manufactured vaccine or two doses of the Moderna-manufactured vaccine. Although the CDC offers varying dosage guidelines depending on the vaccine manufacturer, the federal agency has no stated preference between vaccine manufacturers. “There is no preference for one vaccine over the other when more than one vaccine is recommended for an age group,” the CDC explains on its website. 

For children in that age group who received fewer than the suggested level of doses, the CDC chart recommends additional dosages to meet its guidelines. For example, for children that received one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech-manifactured vaccine, the CDC recommends two further doses. Likewise, children who received one shot of the Moderna-manufactured vaccine are recommended to receive one more. Notably, the only situation for which the CDC recommends children receive more than three doses are instances where all previous COVID immunizations occurred before 2024—in which case the CDC promotes one additional dose.

It is unclear where social media users came up with the “seven doses” claim—that number does not appear in the CDC’s chart whatsoever. The Dispatch Fact Check has reached out to the CDC for comment. 

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

Peter Gattuso is a fact check reporter for The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2024, he interned at The Dispatch, National Review, the Cato Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Peter is not fact-checking, he is probably watching baseball, listening to music on vinyl records, or discussing the Jones Act.

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