Vax Panel Reviewing Childhood Vaccine Schedule. Here’s What They’ll Vote On.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — a highly influential Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine panel — is meeting Thursday and Friday to discuss potential changes to the childhood vaccination schedule.

The panel will specifically review the COVID vaccine, the hepatitis B vaccination, and the MMRV shot, which protects against measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox. The panel will take votes on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon regarding their recommendations for if, when, and how the three vaccines should be administered.

Regarding the COVID vaccine, there are scheduled discussions on the “genomics of vaccine-induced myocarditis,” as well as the “economic analysis of COVID-19 vaccination.” The panel is also expected to hear statements from COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers. The vote for a COVID recommendation is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday.

On the hepatitis B vaccine, reports this week have suggested that the panel will likely recommend that the vaccine is delayed until age four if the mother tests negative for hep B, since the disease is transmitted sexually or by blood. Currently, the first hep B dose is given at birth. The vote on this recommendation is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m.

The vote for the MMRV shot is also scheduled at 5 p.m. on Friday. Before the vote, the panel will hear a presentation on “febrile seizure” following the MMRV vaccine.

The meeting will also reportedly include the introduction of five new panel member appointees. Back in June, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all ACIP panel members over what he said were conflicts of interests. He’s been replacing the panel with professionals he says follow gold-standard science.

Also of note, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which controversially supports trans procedures for minors, boycotted the meeting, claiming ACIP has lost credibility under Kennedy.

AAP CEO Mark Del Monte claimed in a recent statement that ACIP “imperils children’s health.” “Rather than firing experts at ACIP and CDC and engaging in political stunts, it’s time to get back to prioritizing children’s health. That’s where our focus is. That’s where it will remain,” he added.

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