The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) moved to shift recommendations for several vaccines.
According to reports, the ACIP unanimously urged the CDC to recommend that people receive the COVID-19 vaccine only after speaking with a health care provider. The shift emphasizes individual decision making.
The committee also voted to adopt a new recommendation for childhood vaccines, urging that children receive a standalone chickenpox vaccine instead of the combination measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine.
“Every child…will have access to be vaccinated against” measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella, ACIP Chairman Martin Kulldorff said.
According to a presentation from the CDC Immunization Safety Office, toddlers between the ages of 12-23 months “have increased risk of febrile seizure seven to 10 days after MMRV vaccination compared to those given separate immunization for varicella and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR),” the Department of Health and Human Services explained. Children receiving the first dose of MMRV have also been found to have greater rates of fever and measles-like rash than children receiving the first doses of the MMR vaccine and varicella vaccine.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) recently urged the CDC to change its recommendation that infants receive the Hepatitis B vaccine. “What is the medical reason to give a Hepatitis B vaccine to a newborn whose mom has no hepatitis?” he asked former CDC Director Susan Monarez.
“What is the medical, scientific reason and proof for giving a newborn a Hepatitis-B vaccine if the mom is Hep-B negative?” the senator pressed.
Monarez said she would “not precommit to approving all the ACIP recommendations without the science.”
