CDC ACIP Voted Unanimously To Update COVID-19 Guidance

ACIP voted to postpone a decision on the Hepatitis B vaccine for infants and very young children.  This has become an issue in the case of Dr. Susan Monarez:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5512150-cdc-vaccine-advisers-delay-controversial-vote-on-hepatitis-b-vaccine/

CDC vaccine advisers delay controversial vote on hepatitis B vaccine
By Nathaniel Weixel - September 19, 2025

Key vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 11-1 Friday morning to delay a recommendation on changes to the hepatitis B vaccine administered to newborns, a surprise development greeted with relief by infectious disease experts.

The vote came after a lengthy and tense discussion Thursday about the necessity of giving newborn babies the vaccine, rather than waiting until they are at least a month old.

Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had been considering eliminating the current recommendation that all newborns receive the vaccine, which has been credited with a dramatic decrease in the infection rate over the past 30 years.

Several liaison members of the panel questioned the need for a policy change, given that there was no new evidence showing that there was a problem, or evidence to support delaying the vaccine by a month.

Cody Meissner, a member of the committee, also warned against changing the recommendation during the discussion Thursday.

“We will increase the risk of harm based on no evidence of benefit, because there will be fewer children who will get the full hepatitis B vaccine series,” Meissner said.

The vote was previously scheduled to take place Thursday but was pushed back to Friday.

On Friday morning, ACIP members decided there was too much confusion in the wording of their recommendation.

“I believe that there’s enough ambiguity here and enough remaining discussion about safety, effectiveness, and timing that I believe that a vote today is premature,” panel member Robert Malone said.

“I applaud the committee for getting this one vote right by tabling to allow it to have further discussion,” said Jason Goldman, a liaison representative and president of the American College of Physicians.

Separately Friday, the panel decided to vote again on whether the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine should be covered under the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, which provides low-cost or free vaccines for about half of the children in the country who are uninsured or on Medicaid.

ACIP members voted Thursday to recommend against using the combined vaccine for kids under 4 years old. But in a confusing addition, they then voted against aligning their recommendation with the VFC program.

The new vote Friday brought the VFC program in line with that new recommendation, meaning the combination shot will no longer be covered. Separate MMR and varicella shots will be.

“Please provide to the public so they can have trust, faith and confidence in vaccination as to what process we are going to be using to properly vet and discuss all future vaccines,” Goldman said. “That is why the evidence to recommend framework was created so we would have the standard to be able to vet all vaccines, but that is not being used.”

ACIP voted unanimously to delay the administration of the vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox), commonly called the MMRV:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5511387-mmrv-vaccine-delay-acip/

CDC panel votes to push back MMRV vaccine recommendation to 4 years old
By Joseph Choi - September 18, 2025

The vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted Thursday in favor of delaying the administration of the vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox), commonly called the MMRV.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to vote on three questions during Thursday’s meeting. Five of the members were appointed to the committee just this week.

First, the panel was asked to consider whether the MMRV vaccine should not be recommended for children younger than 4. The panel voted 8-3 to approve the change, with one member abstaining.

This vote would have meant that children who receive their vaccinations through the Vaccines For Children federal program will not be able to receive the MMRV shot until they’re 4 years old. The committee voted, however, in a follow-up motion against aligning the VFC with the recommendation, changing nothing in terms of what the program covers for the time being.

Children can normally get the MMRV vaccine beginning at 12 months of age.

ACIP members Hillary Blackburn, Cody Meissner and Joseph Hibbeln were the three members to vote no on the recommendation.

The panel decided to delay the votes on hepatitis B vaccine guidance until Friday, when they will also vote on COVID-19 vaccine guidance.

The meeting Thursday was tense, with panel members very aware of the heightened attention on their vote following the firing and resignation of top CDC officials and the growing scrutiny of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Capitol Hill.

“We are currently experiencing heated controversies about vaccines. And a key question is, who can you trust? Here’s my advice, when there are different scientific views, only trust scientists who are willing to engage with and publicly debate the scientists with other views,” ACIP Chair Martin Kulldorff said at the start of the meeting.

The core argument against allowing MMRV vaccinations under the age of 4 appeared to be the slightly increased risk of febrile seizures linked to the injections. Febrile seizures are caused by fevers of all types.

Febrile seizures are common and generally don’t cause any long-lasting effects, though members of the panel noted they can be traumatic for families to experience. The risk is lower when vaccines are administered when a child is older.

Kulldorff argued the risk of seizures could scare parents away from getting the MMRV vaccination.

Members of the committee who opposed the motion argued that changing the recommendation took away parents’ right to choose when and how to vaccinate their children.

Jason Goldman, president of the American College of Physicians, lambasted the motion as lacking supporting evidence and causing more confusion than benefits.

“When you make this recommendation, you now give license to insurance companies and the Vaccine For Children Program not to cover this vaccine. And finally, you are taking away the choice of parents to have informed consent and discussion with their physician on what they want to do for the health and benefit of their children,” Goldman told the committee during public comments.

Others warned this motion will cause a drop in vaccination rates.

“The disadvantage of giving two doses — or, as was suggested, separating the two doses — is that we know compliance falls. And the advantage of combination vaccines is that children and adults are more likely to complete the vaccine requirements if it’s given as a single dose,” Meissner said.

According to Andy Pavia, professor and pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Utah, the immunization practices considered Thursday are “settled science.”

“This new handpicked ACIP has chosen to address issues that were relatively settled science for which there’s no new information that really suggests a need to do a detailed review,” Pavia said shortly before the vote. “And has already proposed votes that would change things even before hearing the data, and it suggests a great deal of prejudgment of the issues.”

Former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions the day before the meeting that the agenda and questions discussed by the ACIP were developed almost exclusively by political appointees, with little input from scientific staffers from her agency.

According to Houry, CDC scientists had no input on the first questions the committee voted for Thursday, only being asked for contributions on the COVID-19 vaccine vote scheduled for Friday.

The public health associations which sued over the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) COVID-19 vaccine guidance have filed their fourth amendment to cover just about every subsequent CDC vaccine guidance:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5697104-public-health-groups-cdc-vaccine-recommendations-lawsuit/

Public health groups sue over CDC vaccine recommendations
By Joseph Choi - January 20, 2026

A coalition of medical groups have expanded an ongoing lawsuit against Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to now challenge and reverse the reductions made to the childhood vaccine schedule.

A group of plaintiffs including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) and others sued HHS under Kennedy in July 2025 to undo updated COVID-19 vaccine guidance that no longer included pregnant women and healthy children in the recommended demographics.

In its fourth amended complaint, the lawsuit now additionally challenges the decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month to reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, bringing the country in line with that of Denmark, a nation Kennedy frequently points to when expounding on vaccine guidance.

The plaintiffs called this decision the “most egregious, reckless, and dangerous of the actions Defendants have taken to date” in their amended complaint filed on Monday. They further called for an upcoming meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to be blocked from being held.

Kennedy fired the entire ACIP last year and remade it with many appointees sympathetic to his views, including many known vaccine critics and skeptics.

The plaintiffs argued the current membership of the committee violates federal law that requires committees to be “fairly balanced” and not be “inappropriately influenced.”

The plaintiffs had signaled its intention to sue over the reduction in childhood vaccines soon after the decision was announced.

“Court intervention is now essential to prevent further harm, protect evidence-based recommendations, and ensure that critical decisions affecting children’s health are made transparently and guided by evidence, not ideology,” Richard Hughes IV, attorney for the plaintiffs said in a statement.

“We are confident that we will demonstrate for the court that this administration has acted arbitrarily and capriciously in revisions to the childhood immunization schedule and, furthermore, that the current ACIP will continue this destructive pattern if allowed to continue meeting,” added Hughes.

An HHS spokesperson called the lawsuit “a baseless attempt to litigate for the interests of the organization’s top corporate donors, which make virtually every vaccine across the CDC immunization schedules.”

“AAP is angry that CDC eliminated corporate influence in vaccine recommendations by reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with leading physicians and public health experts and by accepting recommendations from a comprehensive scientific review of U.S. childhood immunization practices conducted under President Trump’s order to examine international best practices in peer developed countries,” they added.