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At the first meeting of a controversial new group of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the committee announced new plans to study established vaccine guidelines. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will create new work groups to study the cumulative effects of the childhood and adolescent vaccine schedules, the hepatitis B vaccine dose given at birth and the combination measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox vaccine, new chair Dr. Martin Kulldorff announced at Wednesday’s meeting in Atlanta. (Tirrell, Goodman and Christensen, 6/25)

The meeting of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee in Atlanta on Wednesday was unlike anything Dr. Deblina Datta had ever seen during her 10 years of working, on and off, with the world-renowned committee. The carefully chosen group of 17 scientists and doctors from the committee’s last meeting was gone, ousted two weeks ago by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Hart, 6/26)

A poll released today shows that 79% of US adults support requiring children to be vaccinated against preventable infectious diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella to attend school, with even two thirds of Republicans and those who support the "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement agreeing with such measures. The poll of 2,509 adults, conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation, also found that, among the 21% who don't support school vaccine mandates, their reasoning focused more on parental choice than on safety concerns. (Wappes, 6/25)

Dr. Michael Ross, a physician licensed in Virginia who is a former professor of obstetrics and gynecology, withdrew from the committee. He was not included in the list of voting members posted on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday. (Mandavilli, 6/24)

A century ago, one of the biggest safety concerns about vaccines involved bacterial contamination. In 1916, four young children died in South Carolina after receiving typhoid vaccine that had been contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Twelve years later, 12 children in Queensland, Australia, died from tainted immunizations against diphtheria. (Tirrell, 6/25)

CDC experts emphasized the need for COVID vaccination during pregnancy, showing that children under 6 months are vulnerable to severe disease from infection, as are their mothers -- and vaccination can mitigate that. In its discussions for the upcoming 2025-2026 respiratory virus season, the COVID vaccination workgroup of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) considered recommendations that all children 6 to 23 months and people ages 2-64 years at high risk of severe COVID be vaccinated -- including pregnant women. (Fiore, 6/25)

The United States won’t contribute anymore to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, until the global health organization has “re-earned the public trust,” U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday. In an inflammatory video speech delivered to the Gavi pledging summit, seen by POLITICO, Kennedy accused Gavi of neglecting vaccine safety, making questionable recommendations around Covid-19 vaccines and silencing dissenting views. (Chiappa, 6/25)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hiring Lyn Redwood, a nurse and the former head of a group critics have denounced as anti-vaccine, to work in its vaccine safety office, multiple CDC officials tell CBS News. Redwood was the president of the group now called Children's Health Defense, which lists as its founder Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now oversees the CDC as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Children's Health Defense has sued to curb vaccine requirements, petitioned federal agencies to revoke vaccine authorizations and spread misinformation about vaccines. (Tin, 6/25)

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has expanded existing warnings on the two leading COVID-19 vaccines about a rare heart side effect mainly seen in young men. Myocarditis, a type of heart inflammation that is usually mild, emerged as a complication after the first shots became widely available in 2021. Prescribing information from both Pfizer and Moderna already advises doctors about the issue. (Perrone, 6/25)