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CDC vaccine panel changes shots for kids

The vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to change the childhood vaccine schedule; but none of the outside experts involved knew why.

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Even as infectious diseases experts and other liaison members questioned the reasoning for rushing ahead with a vote, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked members of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine not be administered until the age of four.

The motion also recommended that children should receive two separate doses — MMR and chickenpox — instead of the combined shot.

Children are eligible to receive the MMRV shot beginning at 12 months of a

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