Overview

• On July 23, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially signed a directive requiring all U.S. influenza vaccines to be single-dose and free of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.
• Vaccine manufacturers assured HHS that they can replace multidose vials without disrupting supplies for both adult immunizations and the Vaccines for Children program this season.
• The absence of a Senate-confirmed CDC director allowed Kennedy to bypass the traditional agency approval process and enact the thimerosal ban directly.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Infectious Diseases Society of America announced plans to publish their own evidence-based flu vaccine guidelines this fall.
• Several states, including Colorado and Massachusetts, are moving to rewrite immunization statutes to incorporate recommendations from medical societies alongside or in place of federal advisory guidance.