Note of the editors: This is an updated version of a story that was originally published on September 18. This is a developing story. It is updated as news breaks.
Federal vaccine recommendations for those who need to be inoculated against illness and at what age changes.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is responsible for creating national vaccination guidelines for children and adults, convened on September 18 and September 19 to revise its current guidance.
The panel voted on 8-3 to 18 September to recommend against children under 4 a combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine. (Varicella is the virus that can cause chicken pox and shingles.) It voted on September 19 to postpone a vote about hepatitis B until a later date, after confusion and heating debate about proposed changes in guidance.
The panel is also planned to decide whether the current guidelines are maintained or change at COVID-19 vaccination.
Rewire News Group spoke with two doctors about these viruses that can have serious health consequences for pregnant people, fetuses and newborns and discuss how changes in vaccine recommendations can influence the health of millions of people in the US in the US
Measles, mumps, rubella and varicella
The MMR and Varicella vaccines are available in two separate recordings or in a single, combined recording. The panel decided that the combined vaccine shot would not be given to children under the age of 4, after the concern was expressed about an increased risk of fertilizer attacks related to combining shots; Proof The risk of this complication is small.
If contracted, these viruses can cause Result, fever and swelling. Although rare, they can cause serious complications and death – sometimes years after Recover from the virus.
Earlier, the CDC recommended to get two doses of MMR and Varicella vaccines – one between the ages of 12 and 15 months and a second between 4 and 6 years old. And the recommendation schedule enabled parents and providers to decide whether a combined whether a two-shot regime was the most suitable for the child.
Was a measles declared in the US in 2000. But a recent outbreak of measles in Texas that has infected more than 700 people since January 2025 led to around 100 hospital admissions; Two children died. It is assumed that falling vaccination rates have played a role in the outbreak.
Hepatitis B can be transferred during birth
The discussion of the Hepatitis B -vaccine, which started on September 18, focused on the newborn dose of the medicine, which is currently given to infants shortly after birth.
Inoculation immediately after birth “maximizes the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing newborn infection,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (MONKEY).
Hepatitis B is transmitted by blood and sexual liquidsAnd can spread from a pregnant person to their baby both in the womb and during delivery. If untreated, the inflammation can be caused by chronic hepatitis B infection lead to scars of the liver That ensures that the organ fails.
People who are infected at birth with chronic hepatitis B who have never received treatment, with a lifelong risk of 25 percent on the development of liver cancer, According to the Hepatitis B Foundation. Those who are infected with hepatitis B stand for an annual risk of liver cancer of 4 percent, depending on whether they have cirrhosis.
After the newborn dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine, CDC guidelines currently recommend a second dose between one and two months old and a last dose between 6-18 months old.
Before 1991, when the US launched a vaccination program that was designed to eradicate hepatitis B infections that were acquired during pregnancy and the birth, around 18,000 to -20,000 babies were diagnosed every year, Dr. James Campbell, the vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases. Today there are only 20 to 30.
Most hepatitis B infections can be linked to a specific risk factor, such as intravenous drug use, sex with an infected person or being born in a B-positive individual with a hepatitis. But until a third cannot be, Campbell said.
“We don’t know where everyone gets it,” Campbell added. “All babies give the vaccine protects them against both known and unknown risks to get hepatitis B.”
Covid-19 can be dangerous during pregnancy
The ACIP panel is also expected to assess its guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination.
The recommendations for COVID-19Gaccins, both for pregnant people and young children, have been in Flux for months. In May 2025Kennedy has abruptly reversed guidelines that recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for most pregnant people. Ignore the long -term process Of the CDC director who approves vaccine recommendations on the basis of ACIP’s guidance, Kennedy said that the CDC would no longer recommend the vaccine for healthy pregnant women.
COVID-19 can have mild symptoms that can cause cold or flu or it can cause it pneumonia, organ failure and even death. COVID-19 COVID-19 During pregnancy increases the risk of serious illness and death, according to death, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), The leading professional organization for our OB-Gyns. COVID-19 During pregnancy is also linked to miscarriage” stillbirth and other pregnancy complications.
ACOG the COVID-19Son started recommended for Most pregnant people In 2021 it became available on a large scale in the same year. Vaccination reduces the risk of serious illness and pregnancy complications, and some protection against the virus is passed on to newborns who are not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine until they reach 6 months old.
Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association said: “Women of reproductive age … certainly run the risk of Covid and in my opinion should be vaccinated.”
Changes will have consequences, proponents warn
The ACIP meeting comes in the midst of a deliberate dismantling of the public health infrastructure of the country under the Trump government. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has long vaccinations with anti-vaccination that do not merge with available scientific evidence.
Kennedy fired everything in June 2025 17 existing ACIP -MEMBERS With reference to ‘persistent conflicts of interest’. He has since been selected 12 new people to sit on the panel -many of whom have shown skepticism or other scientific views of the edge. The panel already has gave an interest When re -relocating his earlier vaccine recommendations and schedules, especially for children.
Experts and lawyers warn that the chaos, confusion and disinformation surrounding the recommendations of vaccine under the leadership of Kennedy further undermine the trust of the public in vaccines. A recently Washington Post/KFF -Surface Discovered that more than 15 percent of parents have delayed or skipped to get their child a recommended youth vaccine.
Changing regulations can also make it more difficult for patients who still want or need protection against these diseases to be inoculated.
Whatever ACIP decides, some leading health organizations are likely to adhere to their vaccing management.
After Kennedy’s comments about pregnancy and the COVID-19 vaccine, ACOG confirmed again in August 2025 recommendation That pregnant and lactating people receive the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters.
“The entire body of data clearly shows that the COVID-19Gaccins are not only completely safe for use during pregnancy, but also protective during pregnancy and after the child is born,” Dr. Mark Turrentine, an OB-Gyn who helped the supervision of author ACOG, said in a statement.
Likewise there is sufficient scientific evidence Make a back -up of the current hepatitis B -vaccination schedule.
“We are very close to eliminating perinatal hepatitis B,” Campbell told the new Rewire news group “It will be a step back if we decide to undo everything over the years without reason.”
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