RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shot

What happened

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine advisory committee Thursday voted 8-3, with one abstention, to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox (varicella) as well as measles, mumps and rubella. But the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices delayed a planned vote on the hepatitis B vaccine.

Who said what

ACIP advised that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer approve the combined MMRV shot for kids under 4 but still recommend that the chickenpox and measles, mumps and rubella vaccines be given separately. The CDC has long favored the two separate vaccinations, so the new recommendation was “unlikely to have widespread consequences,” The New York Times said. And “in a bizarre twist,” the panel voted 8-1 to have a key federal childhood vaccination program continue paying for the MMRV shot.

The meeting was “marked by confusion” approaching chaos, The Washington Post said, and “at one point, some members asked what they had just voted on.” This was the first meeting for five of the 12 members. Kennedy, previously a “leading antivaccine activist,” fired the entire ACIP panel in June and replaced it with a “group that includes several anti-vaccine voices,” The Associated Press said. Former CDC Director Susan Monarez told a Senate committee Wednesday that before he forced her out last month, Kennedy told her she “needed to get on board” and approve his vaccine panel’s recommendations, “regardless of the scientific evidence.”

ACIP guidelines have “historically guided what vaccines insurers cover at no cost to patients and what immunizations states recommend,” The Wall Street Journal said. But amid widespread doubts about the new panel’s judgment, several states said they will follow other guidance, and most insurance companies said Tuesday they will “continue to cover all vaccines recommended” by the previous committee.

What next?

ACIP was expected to vote today on Covid-19 shots and “appears poised to eliminate a 34-year-old recommendation for all infants to receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth,” the Post said. Public health researchers credit the latter vaccine with nearly eliminating maternal transmission of the liver disease. The ACIP recommendations must be approved by the acting CDC director to become official guidelines.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.