Overview

• ACIP voted 12–0 to move from a universal recommendation to shared clinical decision-making for everyone 6 months and older, stressing that benefits are greatest for higher-risk people under 65.
• A proposal to recommend prescription-only access failed on a 6–6 split after Chair Martin Kulldorff cast a tie-breaking no vote.
• The panel approved, 11–1, updating vaccine information statements to spell out at least six risks and uncertainties for COVID-19 shots.
• FDA last month limited the updated boosters to adults 65+ and certain high-risk younger people, and AHIP said member plans will keep covering vaccines ACIP had recommended as of Sept. 1 at no cost through 2026 as access and pharmacy authority remain unsettled in some states.
• Separate votes revised guidance to favor giving MMR and varicella as separate shots rather than the combined MMRV for young children and postponed a change to the newborn hepatitis B dose.