ACIP Meeting: Hepatitis B Vaccine Schedule and MMRV Vote

ACIP Meeting and Panel Changes

• 💡 The CDC's vaccine panel, ACIP, is scheduled to vote on two high-profile immunizations.
• ⚠️ ACIP Chair Martin Caldorf addressed controversy surrounding recent changes, emphasizing trust in scientists willing to debate differing views.
• 🎯 The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) boycotted the meeting, calling the firing of experts an "unfortunate political act that imperils children's health."

MMRV Vaccine Vote

• 💉 ACIP will vote on whether to not recommend the combination MMRV shot for infants and toddlers.
• 👶 Currently, the CDC recommends giving the MMR and varicella shots separately for young children due to a higher risk of febrile seizures with the combination vaccine.

Hepatitis B Vaccine Schedule Vote

• 👶 A key vote concerns whether babies should receive the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they are born.
• 🤰 The committee will first vote on testing all pregnant women for HEP infection.
• 🗓️ Subsequently, they will vote on recommending a delay in the hepatitis B vaccine until a baby is at least one month old if the mother's test comes back negative, while still allowing for earlier vaccination with doctor's permission.
• 🛡️ The current recommendation is to vaccinate newborns to prevent mothers from infecting their babies.