CDC Updates Guidance and Government Reimbursement for Childhood Vaccines
During today's ACIP meeting, several experts challenged the safety of childhood vaccines and implored for more accurate and credible safety studies and data.
September 18, 2025: I just finished watching today’s CDC ACIP meeting on the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) combo vaccine, MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella*) combo vaccine for infants and children under 4, and the Hep B vaccine for newborns.
*Varicella is the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles.
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Access to MMR and MMRV Has Little to No Change
Although today’s ACIP decisions will have little to no immediate impact on a parent’s and pediatrician’s access to the MMR and MMRV vaccines, the debate was healthy, dynamic and borderline contentious - one that challenged the safety of childhood vaccines and implored for more accurate and credible safety data.
It reminded me of when I would sit in meetings of medical associations watching and listening to world-renowned experts presenting slides challenging the safety and clinical benefits of blockbuster pharmaceutical drugs.
In one meeting, an MD who was an advisor to many pharma companies interrupted a presentation (that was prepared by me and my agency team) to assert, “I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with this information. We should all be acutely aware of how this meeting is being paid for.”
Similar statements were made throughout today’s ACIP meeting.