Kennedy's Rebuilt Vaccine Panel Narrows COVID and MMRV Recommendations at Its Second Meeting

At a two-day meeting on September 18 and 19, 2025, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to move COVID-19 vaccination for everyone six months and older to shared clinical decision-making, replacing a broader routine recommendation. A proposal to require a prescription for COVID-19 vaccines failed on the chair's tie-breaking vote. The panel voted that the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella shot no longer be recommended or covered by the federal Vaccines for Children program for children under four, who would instead receive separate MMR and varicella shots. A proposed change to the hepatitis B birth dose was tabled 11-1 on a motion by member Robert Malone, with chair Martin Kulldorff the lone dissenter. Kulldorff opened by saying, "We are rookies. With one exception, this was either our first ACIP meeting or our second." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had dismissed all 17 sitting members in June and added five more voting members shortly before the session.

ACIP recommendations are not merely advisory in effect: they determine what insurers must cover without cost sharing and what the Vaccines for Children program pays for. Narrowing a recommendation to shared decision-making therefore changes access, not just guidance.

Several states moved to preserve coverage and school-entry requirements independent of the federal recommendations. The hepatitis B question was deferred to a later meeting.