The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said it had adopted recommendations from a panel of outside advisors without change, including that COVID-19 vaccines should be administered through shared decision-making with a healthcare provider.
The new recommendation maintains access for the shot through health insurance.
The recommendations come at a turbulent time for the CDC, which recently saw the ouster of its former Director Susan Monarez after resisting changes to vaccine policy advanced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The acting director of the CDC, Jim O'Neill, also signed off on its advisers' recommendations against use of the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine before the age of 4 years. Instead, separate shots will be given for measles-mumps-rubella and varicella, commonly known as chickenpox.
The immunization schedules will be updated on the CDC website by Tuesday, the agency said.
Earlier this year, CDC said COVID vaccination in healthy children aged 6 months to 17 years should follow shared clinical decision by a child's parents and their healthcare provider, after Kennedy said the recommendations for such children and pregnant women would be dropped.
Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, has sought to rewrite the country's immunization policies through a series of far-reaching actions, including dismantling the national vaccine advisory board and later reconstituting it with hand-picked experts who share his opposition to COVID shots.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in August, had cleared updated COVID-19 vaccines for everyone over age 65 but limited its approval for younger people to those with health risks.
The three approved COVID shots are made by Pfizer with German partner BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax with Sanofi.
The new recommendation maintains access for the shot through health insurance.
The recommendations come at a turbulent time for the CDC, which recently saw the ouster of its former Director Susan Monarez after resisting changes to vaccine policy advanced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The acting director of the CDC, Jim O'Neill, also signed off on its advisers' recommendations against use of the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine before the age of 4 years. Instead, separate shots will be given for measles-mumps-rubella and varicella, commonly known as chickenpox.
The immunization schedules will be updated on the CDC website by Tuesday, the agency said.
Earlier this year, CDC said COVID vaccination in healthy children aged 6 months to 17 years should follow shared clinical decision by a child's parents and their healthcare provider, after Kennedy said the recommendations for such children and pregnant women would be dropped.
Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, has sought to rewrite the country's immunization policies through a series of far-reaching actions, including dismantling the national vaccine advisory board and later reconstituting it with hand-picked experts who share his opposition to COVID shots.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in August, had cleared updated COVID-19 vaccines for everyone over age 65 but limited its approval for younger people to those with health risks.
The three approved COVID shots are made by Pfizer with German partner BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax with Sanofi.
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