RFK Jr's CDC vaccine panel votes against measles shot for kids under 4

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-selected vaccine advisers voted to change the way immunisations are given to millions of US children each year, recommending a tweak to the standard schedule that casts a large shadow over the safety of the shots.

Members of the influential US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention panel said Merck & Co.’s combination vaccine for measles and three other viruses shouldn’t be given as one shot to children under 4 because it increases the rare risk of seizures. The group, called the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, said the youngest children should get two separate shots to prevent the infections.

The reason for reviewing the shots “is not one of safety; it’s one of trust,” said Robert Malone, a scientist who studied messenger RNA and vocal vaccine sceptic who has erroneously claimed Covid shots cause a form of AIDS.

The decision “poses significant risk to public health” by undermining confidence in vaccines and sowing confusion among parents and paediatricians, Merck said in a statement. “At a time when the United States is facing the largest measles outbreak in more than two decades and vaccination rates for school entry are falling, undermining MMRV vaccine access and confidence poses a significant health risk.”

The meeting is being closely watched as an indicator of how Kennedy plans to upend the established rhythm of childhood immunisation in the US, which is widely credited with controlling scores of diseases that previously disabled or killed millions of Americans. As President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has cast doubt on the value of some immunisations and repeatedly debunked theories about harm from others.

The panel on Friday will consider delaying the first dose of a hepatitis B vaccine currently given at birth for at least a month for most babies. They will also review the use of COVID-19 vaccines.

Health and Human Services will examine the insurance coverage implications of the ACIP votes before final decisions are made on whether they should be adopted by the CDC’s acting director, HHS said in a statement. The recommendations become part of the immunisation schedule if they are adopted by the CDC director, according to the statement.

In the past, the CDC has typically accepted the panel’s recommendations, though it’s not required to do so.

The CDC is increasingly being driven by political priorities under Kennedy, a shift cemented in a new mission statement focused on hot-button issues like immigration, diversity and inclusion, crime and parenting.

Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of the panel when he took the nation’s top health spot and replaced them with hand-picked alternatives. The new members include some who have echoed debunked theories about the safety of immunisations and others who served as paid expert witnesses for plaintiffs suing Merck.

Combination Shots
The panellists focused on the safety of Merck’s ProQuad, a widely used combination vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. They said infants shouldn’t get it for protection against all four viruses, pointing to evidence of increased fever-related seizures when it’s given to the youngest children.

It can still be used as the second of the two recommended shots.

The recommendation could disrupt supplies of the vaccine around the world, Merck said. The company manufactures all of its ProQuad, MMR and chickenpox vaccines in the US, a spokesperson said. An immediate demand to give the MMR and chickenpox shots separately for all kids “could have nationwide and global consequences,” the company said.

There’s no evidence of increased seizure risk when ProQuad is the second dose, the company said. It cited studies showing combination vaccines improved health outcomes and reduced the number of missed or delayed shots.

The shot’s elevated risk of seizures led the CDC to change its recommendations in 2010, advising paediatricians to give separate vaccines for MMR and varicella, the virus that causes chickenpox, for the first dose that’s typically administered at 12 months of age. Only about 15% of children get the combination shot for their first dose.

Most children recover quickly from the seizures and experience no lasting effects, according to the CDC. The seizures are rare, affecting about one in every 2,300 kids who get the combination vaccine.

Childhood Schedule
The panel has also promised to re-examine the US pediatric vaccine schedule, following Kennedy’s repeated claims that children receive too many shots. It also creates a new working group to study vaccines during pregnancy.

Its recommendations dictate which vaccines are available nationwide and must be covered by insurers at no cost to the patient. About half of American children rely on a federal free-vaccine program that is required to adhere to the panel’s advice, giving it power to effectively deny access to certain shots.

The panel voted to keep the shot available for free in the vaccine program, though it’s unclear whether they have the power to ensure that access.

The topics the agency’s advisers are reviewing are “a step in the wrong direction,” said Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Public health officials are pushing back, and several states have started issuing their own vaccine recommendations, she said.

A health insurance company trade group, AHIP, pledged its members would cover vaccines recommended as of Sept. 1 with no cost sharing through the end of 2026. Coverage decisions “are grounded in each plan’s ongoing, rigorous review of scientific and clinical evidence, and continual evaluation of multiple sources of data,” the group said in a statement on its website.

“This is the first time in the history of the US where states and medical societies are making their own recommendations completely at odds with the CDC. That’s not normal,” Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown, said in an interview. “All established scientists are distrustful of the CDC’s current recommendations — even health insurers are going against them!”

Read Also: Trump asks Supreme Court for emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from Fed board