CDC vaccine panel vote has lawmakers, former staff on edge

The Big Story

CDC vaccine panel vote has lawmakers, former staff on edge

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remade CDC vaccine advisory panel is set to meet Thursday and Friday. Changes to the schedule of childhood vaccinations are anticipated.

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The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is set to vote to change recommendations for the combined measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox vaccine; COVID-19 shots; and hepatitis B. The panel is widely expected to delay until age 4 the current recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine.

But the exact questions the panel will be voting on are unclear and have not been publicly posted despite Kennedy’s pledge for agency transparency.

The hepatitis B vaccine has been credited with saving tens of thous