CDC Vaccine Recommendations Stall Amid Policy Upheaval

In March, a federal judge ruled Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures, halted his replacement Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel, and suspended cuts to recommended childhood vaccines. ACIP had guided CDC recommendations for 60 years before Kennedy dismissed it last year and appointed a new panel that included anti-vaccine voices; the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups sued. FDA later approved mFlusiva, an mRNA flu vaccine, for ages 50 to 64, but CDC this month quietly posted it would keep last year's flu endorsements due to "legal uncertainties and inquiries," leaving mFlusiva off the list. Medical societies recommend it as an option and, working privately with a University of Minnesota researcher, issue their own guidance; America's Health Insurance Plans' insurers follow those societies. Societies also extended RSV shots for pregnant women through early March, past ACIP's September-to-January window. This week officials confirmed Vaccines for Children orders for updated COVID-19 vaccines could be placed. CONTESTED: Jason Schwartz said, "We find ourselves at a point where even if credible evidence (for a new vaccine policy) has reached a tipping point, we don't have an obvious mechanism that can formalize that change." He also said the Trump administration's credibility on vaccine recommendations "is so compromised in the eyes of the mainstream medical and public health communities, that even recommendations that might align with where the public health community was trending are likely to be viewed with scepticism or distrust." Dr. Jason Goldman said he hoped the ruling "will mean a return to a transparent and evidence-driven process that safeguards the health of all communities and the best interests of our patients." Chris Regal said, "We all recognized this needs to evolve." No left-rated framing appears in the record. The court order did not restore the prior process; federal guidance on new vaccines remains stalled.