We’re sending this late this Friday afternoon because the CDC’s advisory panel, the ACIP, ran long - and saved all the most crucial voting for the very end of the day. We’re here to help make sense of it ahead of the weekend.
Vaccine Mayhem:
- The newly-configured ACIP met Thursday and Friday and voted on various parts of the childhood vaccine schedule. While it was highly political, the changes weren’t as drastic as some expected. See our best question below for a more detailed discussion of the changes. (YLE)
- AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans), a major insurance industry group, announced Tuesday that it will continue to cover updated COVID vaccines and flu vaccines through the end of 2026. (AHIP)
- The West Coast Health Alliance (made up of CA, OR, WA, and HI) released their own vaccine recommendations borrowed from professional orgs ahead of this week’s ACIP meeting... (NY Times)
- …Meanwhile 7 East Coast states and NYC have created their own version, the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. (Reuters)
- Susan Monarez, the recently-fired CDC head, says she was asked to fire senior scientists and roll back vaccine policies without evidence. (KFF Health News)
Health News:
- Arizona reported 12 new measles cases this week, and neighboring Utah reported 7, in what’s likely a combined outbreak. (Pandemic Center)
- The FDA proposed banning another artificial dye, Orange B, even though it hasn’t been used since 1978. (AP)
- 31 out of 48 Ebola cases in DR Congo have resulted in deaths. (Reuters)
- The CDC released an official health advisory about the Ebola outbreak in Congo, though they said risk of spread to the U.S. is low. (CDC)
- Minnesota reported its first H5N1 detection in poultry since April. (CIDRAP)
- There are now 280 child flu deaths in the U.S. from the 2024-2025 season. This is only 8 short of 2009-10’s H1N1 pandemic year. (Pandemic Center)
- American men seek weight loss treatment far less often than women, which concerns doctors because they have the same rates of obesity. (NY Times)
- Haifa brand smoked fish is being recalled due to potential Listeria contamination. (FDA)
- A new sustainable method to produce pharmaceuticals could lower prescription drug costs in the U.S. (Newsweek)
Best Questions:
What’s going with childhood & COVID vaccines after this week’s vaccine advisory meeting?
The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, the ACIP, met Thursday and Friday with some key votes about childhood vaccines.
A messy process:
- “We are rookies,” the chair of the panel said on Friday morning. Nearly the entire panel has been replaced, some in just the past few days.
- The process was full of confusion, debate and hot mic moments (including one voter caught saying he didn’t know what he just voted for, and another calling someone an “idiot.”).
- On Friday, they had to redo a vote from the day before because the panel hadn’t understood the wording - and accidentally voted to pay for a shot that they actually didn’t want to cover.
- While messy, both days also included some excellent science presented by CDC researchers and thoughtful public comment.
Here’s what changed:
- A relatively minor change to how we give the MMR and Varicella vaccines to young kids.
- Instead of offering MMRV (a combo of both) to kids under 4, they voted to give them separately at that age, and only offer the combined dose to kids 4+.
- This is already how most doctors do this and was already the CDC’s recommended method. There are possible short-term headaches for clinicians that only stock the combo vaccine.
- No changes to newborn Hep B shots - for now.
- After hours of debate and a postponed vote on Thursday, the group decided to indefinitely postpone a vote that would move the Hep B vaccine from birth to one month for low risk newborns. That would have profound consequences on Hep B rates, which have plummeted from 18,000 to just 20 per year since the U.S. started vaccinating babies.
- COVID shots will NOT require a prescription. They should still be available and covered, though no longer “recommended” for most Americans.
- The committee voted to change the vaccine schedule from recommending COVID shots for most adults to individual-based decision making for everyone 6 months and up.
- The chair of the committee said that for those who want them, COVID shots should still be covered by insurance. Given the confusion during voting, we would like to see this independently verified over the next few days.
In short, these changes are not as drastic as some in the public health world expected they might be, but they are important because they are not based on any new safety or effectiveness data. That’s a major departure from how this panel has done things in the past, and increases the risk that politics, not evidence, shape our health policy.
Sources: YLE, CDC, NPR, CBS
What is hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B is caused by a virus that attacks the liver. It’s transmitted through contact with blood or other bodily fluids, and can be passed from a mother to their newborn.
Symptoms can include fatigue, fever, weight loss, vomiting, dark (cola-colored) urine, light-colored stool, or jaundice (yellowing of the eyes or skin). Hep B is tricky because symptoms can show up anywhere from 3 to 5 months after exposure. In some cases, especially in nearly all infant cases, it can lead to a chronic, lifelong condition.
If you’re vaccinated against hepatitis B, you’re well protected for decades, or even for life.
In the workplace, the risk of hep B is low. It isn’t spread through close contact or food - only by contact with blood or other body fluids. Injuries are the biggest threat for spreading hep B in the workplace, so be sure to follow proper body fluid, needlestick, and bloodborne pathogen cleanup guidelines.
If you need help with any of your workplace injury or body fluid clean up procedures, we’re here to help. Reply here or chat in via the ZHH App for support, action plans, or help building your guidelines.
Sources: ZHH App, CDC
Best Read:
California is a leader in limiting ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in schools. Some are hoping the “California effect” will push other states to follow suit, like they did with food additives.