Overview

• After being remade by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC’s advisory panel voted to stop recommending the MMRV combination for children under four in favor of separate MMR and varicella shots.
• On Friday the committee backed away from a proposal to make Covid-19 vaccines prescription-only but still declined to explicitly recommend them, telling people to consult clinicians instead.
• Panel members questioned Covid-19 vaccine efficacy and safety and criticized drugmakers’ rigor, drawing rebukes from physicians who said the discussion relied on myths and selectively used data.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics and several Democratic-led states issued their own vaccine guidance, while Florida said it plans to remove existing mandates, signaling fractured national advice.
• Public-health leaders cited falling vaccination rates, three U.S. measles deaths this year, rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, and warned that weakened guidance could jeopardize insurance coverage for vaccines that can cost hundreds of dollars.