Covid shot access and coverage in the U.S. hang in the balance as an influential government vaccine panel hand-picked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. convenes this week in Atlanta.

The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is scheduled to vote on recommendations for Covid jabs and childhood immunizations for hepatitis B and measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella, or MMRV. Kennedy has gutted and restacked that committee with new members, some of whom are vaccine critics, raising concerns that they could soften, delay or fully eliminate recommendations for routine shots proven to be safe and effective.

The panel is expected to vote on the hepatitis B and MMRV shot on Thursday, and Covid vaccines on Friday. The Centers for

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