Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
ACIP Appears Poised To Shake Up Childhood Immunization Schedule
Advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appear poised to make consequential changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, delaying a shot that is routinely administered to newborns and discussing big changes to when or how other childhood immunizations are given. Decisions by the group are not legally binding, but they have profound implications for whether private insurance and government assistance programs are required to cover the vaccines. (Mandavilli, 12/2)
Delaying the timing of vaccinating infants against hepatitis B — an idea a federal vaccine advisory group will likely vote on later this week — would neither improve the effectiveness of the vaccine nor make it safer to give to babies. But it would increase in the number of young children who become chronically infected with hepatitis B, an infection that carries a high risk a child will develop liver disease early in life, a report released Tuesday suggests. (Branswell, 12/2)
The federal government’s vaccine advisory panel is scheduled to review the hepatitis B vaccine this week. But experts on the shot — both in and outside of the government — told STAT they’ve been shut out of the process. (Payne and Cirruzzo, 12/2)
Also —
The West Virginia Board of Education on Tuesday reinstated a school vaccination mandate after the state Supreme Court paused a lower court’s ruling that allowed parents to cite religious beliefs to opt out of shots required for their children to attend classes. The Supreme Court earlier Tuesday issued a stay in last week’s ruling by Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble in a class-action lawsuit. In issuing an injunction, Froble said children of families who objected to the state’s compulsory vaccination law on religious grounds would be allowed to attend school and participate in extracurricular sports. (Raby, 12/3)
Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed legislation that formally establishes a process for state-level vaccine guidelines and expands pharmacy access to COVID-19 and other shots for young children across Illinois. (Olander, 12/2)
