An CDC advisory panel voted Thursday to adjust the recommendations for a measles vaccine that includes protection against chickenpox or chickenpox, the virus.
The new orientation of the Advisory Committee for the Control and Prevention of Diseases on Immunization Practices (ACIP) suggests that the vaccine, called MMRV, should not be recommended for children under 4 years due to a small risk of febrile seizures in that age group. Seizures can be driven by fevers associated with viruses or sometimes vaccines. They usually last for a few minutes and, although they are afraid that parents can be witnesses, they are generally harmless, doctors say.
The panelists voted 8-3 in favor of change. A member, Dr. Robert Malone, abstained due to a conflict of interest.
Doctors have known about the greatest risk of febrile seizures in young children for years. That is why CDC already suggests that younger children get the varicella vaccine separately, unless a father or caregiver prefer MMRV taking.
The combined shot was developed to reduce the number of vaccines that babies receive at age 1 and to increase the possibilities that children get all their vaccines. But about 85% of parents choose to give their children independent measles, the vaccine against papers and rubella and a separate chickenpox, according to the data presented at the meeting on Thursday.
Thursday’s vote does not change the fact that children should be vaccinated by measles, paperras and rubella twice, once at 12 to 15 months and another at 4 to 6 years. Varicela vaccines can be administered on the same visit to the doctor.
The ACIP did not weigh on combined vaccines for the second dose, so children 4 years and older can still obtain them if their parents prefer it. There is no evidence of a greater risk of feverish seizure in this older group.
The recommendation of the committee is not definitive. The interim director of the CDC, Jim O’Neill, will have the last word about whether to adopt the changes, and it is not clear when he could sign. (Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed O’Neill at the end of August after he expelled Susan Monarez).
The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement on Thursday night that “it will examine all the implications of insurance coverage after the recommendation of ACIP today, before a final decision on the adoption of the interim director.”
Many public health experts have expressed concern about the reasons behind the discussion and vote on Thursday in the light of recent changes to ACIP.
Kennedy, an antivacuna activist for a long time, fired the former acip guard in June, so, according to him, they were conflicts of interest and appointed new members. Five of the 12 members of the committee were added to the panel last week, making Thursday’s meeting the first.
Many of Kennedy’s teams have expressed skepticism about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. At Thursday’s meeting, several panelists asked for more studies to analyze the long -term effects of measles vaccines, which have been studied widely.
Before the meeting, the president of ACIP, Martin Kullldorff, asked the CDCs to analyze data on the risk of febrile seizures after MMRV vaccines. But the presentation of the CDC on Thursday did not reveal anything new. Rather, he pointed out what doctors have understood for a long time: there is a small greater risk of febrile seizures in young children after the first dose of MMRV, but not a higher risk in older children.
“The real question is not whether the risk of MMRV seizures justifies the offer of separate shots: we already do it. That is why a new committee designated by Kennedy is reviewing a policy that has worked well for two decades,” said Dr. Jake Scott, clinical associate professor of infectious diseases and geographical medicine of the Stanford University of the School of Medicine of Medicine of Medicine, In a previous interview.
“This feels like using a known, revealed and managed risk to undermine confidence throughout the schedule,” Scott said.
ACIP member, Robert Malone, said the committee assumed the issue on Thursday because “a significant population” in the United States has concerns about vaccine policy.
The ACIP will vote on Friday by a recommendation to delay the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine until a child has at least 1 month. Typically, the first dose is administered within 24 hours after birth. The committee will also discuss the updated covid shots of this fall.
