The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee has voted to change the guidelines for multiple vaccinations.
Committee member Dr. Martin Kulldorf, speaks during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Chamblee, Ga. Rochester, N.Y. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee has voted to change the guidelines for multiple vaccinations, including MMRV and COVID-19.
The newly appointed panel, led by longtime vaccine skeptic and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., unanimously decided Friday to drop its recommendation that all Americans receive the COVID-19 vaccine, instead suggesting it be an individual choice. The panel advises consulting with health care providers before making a decision. The implications for access and insurance remain unclear. This follows the panel's vote late Thursday to change the guidelines for the MMRV vaccine, which many children receive. They instead recommend two separate shots: one for measles, mumps, and rubella, and another for chickenpox.Dr. Steven Schulz, head of ambulatory pediatrics at Rochester Regional health, weighed in on the impact the changes could have. "The decision really didn't change a whole lot, to be honest," he said. "The vote was just in respect to the combination of measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox vaccine that they recommended not giving it before four years of age." The panel argued that the changes will improve safety and slightly lower the risk of possible seizures. Schulz claimed many providers, including himself, already administer separate vaccines, and said evidence suggests that the concerns raised about febrile seizures are not clinically significant. "We couldn't say that this was by a cause and effect; it could have possibly just been by chance," Schulz said. "Providers haven't been doing anything wrong by giving the combination measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox vaccine at 12 months of age." Some doctors from the American Academy of Pediatrics are warning parents not to listen to the changes made by the panel. Kate Ott, the Ontario County Director of Public Health, also expressed concern. "Yesterday's decision may not change practice dramatically, but we should all be concerned about potential future decision-making of this body of unqualified experts," Ott said in a statement released Friday. The advisory committee has indefinitely postponed its planned vote on whether to stop recommending the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. None of the panel's votes is finalized until approved by the head of the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services.
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