The Vaccine Intelligence Report: July 15-21

The Vaccine Intelligence Report—brought to you by Vaccinate Your Family—provides clear, fact-based updates on vaccine policy, research, and public health each week. This report is part of Viral Truths, a resource designed to cut through the noise, offering concise information to help navigate the evolving immunization landscape.

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE

  • During her Senate HELP confirmation hearing, CDC Director nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz affirmed that vaccines are safe and effective, but faced repeated questions about her ability to resist possible political pressure to change CDC vaccine communications or recommendations without supporting evidence
  • During the same hearing, ASPR nominee Sean Kaufman said vaccines are critical for preventing infectious disease, while senators pressed him on past vaccine-critical comments and his support for canceled mRNA vaccine development grants
  • HHS quietly revised the NVAC charter to emphasize alternatives for people who cannot or choose not to vaccinate and to place new limits on some types of expert representation
  • Oklahoma reported increases in school vaccine exemptions for the 2025-2026 school year, while West Virginia public schools will not accept religious exemptions as the state Supreme Court considers the issue
  • The U.S. has reported 2,295 measles cases this year, surpassing last year’s total as several states report new cases and a South Carolina health system report highlights serious outcomes among unvaccinated patients
  • The Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the DRC has become the fastest growing Ebola outbreak in history, while Uganda reported no new active cases and researchers continue work toward vaccine options
  • New WHO and UNICEF data show global childhood vaccination coverage improved slightly in 2025, though 13.5 million children did not receive any vaccinations during their first year of life

NEED TO KNOW

Senate HELP Committee Presses CDC, ASPR Nominees on Vaccine Support and Political Pressure

  • At a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) confirmation hearing last Wednesday (Jul. 15), senators pressed nominees to lead two major federal public health offices on whether they would support vaccination, commit to evidence-based decision-making, and resist political pressure from Administration officials.
  • Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Trump’s nominee to serve as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), affirmed that vaccines are safe and effective and pledged to lead CDC with “radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity.”
    • Schwartz is a physician and former Deputy Surgeon General who has also held senior health leadership roles in the Navy and Coast Guard. Her background drew some bipartisan praise, but much of the hearing focused on how she would respond if President Trump or Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the CDC to take actions that were not supported by scientific evidence.
    • Senators repeatedly cited the firing of former CDC Director Susan Monarez after she reportedly refused to preemptively accept recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and dismiss senior CDC vaccine officials.
    • Schwartz said she would “never betray the science,” but declined to directly answer several questions about what she would do if Kennedy sought to change CDC vaccine communications or recommendations without supporting evidence—prompting frustration from members including Senator Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who sought firmer commitments.
    • Schwartz also faced questions on several current vaccine policy issues.
      • She declined to say whether she would continue CDC influenza (flu) vaccine promotion if Kennedy asked her to stop—a sidestep that Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) called “disappointing” given earlier reports that Kennedy directed CDC staff to remove flu vaccination website materials during a severe flu season.
      • Schwartz said she accepted the evidence showing that vaccines do not cause autism but was unable to commit to removing language on the CDC website suggesting a link between the two.
      • She also expressed support for immunization requirements in some settings where people live or work in close contact, while also supporting religious exemptions.
        • The exchange came amid the ongoing flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio following the Pentagon’s removal of the since-reinstated military flu vaccine requirement.
  • Sean Kaufman, who was nominated to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), also said vaccines are safe, effective, and critical for preventing infectious disease.
    • Kaufman faced scrutiny over previous comments questioning Covid vaccination for children and a since-deleted LinkedIn post that discussed the hepatitis B birth dose alongside autism and allergies.
      • He said his Covid comments reflected his view that his own children were healthy and already had antibodies, noting that he would have recommended vaccination for older adults and people who are immunocompromised. He also maintained that he did not claim vaccines cause autism.
    • Senators also pressed Kaufman on his support for Secretary Kennedy’s decision to cancel $500 million in mRNA vaccine development grants from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), an agency that would be under Kaufman’s leadership if confirmed.
      • Kaufman said he supports mRNA vaccine research but argued that resources should focus on evaluating prior vaccines and improving the platform before developing new vaccine targets.
      • Several senators raised concerns that reducing mRNA vaccine research could weaken pandemic preparedness, particularly given ASPR’s role in supporting responses to emerging infectious disease threats.
  • The HELP Committee is scheduled to vote on the nominations of Schwartz and Kaufman during a hearing on Thursday (Jul. 23). If advanced by the committee, the two will still need to be confirmed by the full Senate.

HHS Quietly Revises Charter for National Vaccine Advisory Committee 

  • Earlier this month, HHS issued a new charter for the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC). The updated charter is dated July 7, 2026, but HHS did not separately announce its publication.
    • NVAC is a federal advisory committee that provides recommendations to HHS on national vaccine policy, including vaccine safety, supply, and research priorities.
  • Although the committee’s core responsibilities established by federal law remain unchanged, the new charter significantly expands how NVAC is directed to approach the prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases.
    • In addition to advising on vaccination, the charter now instructs the committee to consider strategies for people who cannot or choose not to be vaccinated, citing “healthy lifestyles, dietary supplements and the ‘repurposed’ use of [Food and Drug Administration (FDA)]-approved drugs” as alternative methods for the prevention of infectious disease.
    • Healthy behaviors and appropriate medical treatments can support overall health, but they do not provide the disease-specific protection offered by vaccination. Additionally, a drug approved by the FDA for one purpose is not necessarily proven safe or effective when “repurposed” to prevent a different illness.
  • The charter also reshapes how HHS intends to structure committee membership. The updated language states that at least one-third of members must now come from the public, and places new limits on representation from academia and from individuals or organizations with pharmaceutical industry affiliations or funding.
    • Previous NVAC charters described the types of expertise the committee should include but did not establish numerical limits for membership. While broader public representation can bring valuable perspectives, the new restrictions could also reduce the number of vaccine researchers, infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, and other technical experts serving on the committee.
  • Further, the new charter explicitly states that the Assistant Secretary for Health—serving as Director of the National Vaccine Program—has final authority to appoint members and that the committee’s recommendations are advisory and non-binding, with the Director retaining authority over whether and how those recommendations are implemented.
    • While federal advisory committees have always served in an advisory capacity and HHS has always had final decision-making authority, the added language places greater emphasis on HHS’s discretion in making vaccine policy decisions.
  • Although a committee charter does not itself change vaccine policy, it defines the committee’s mission, membership, and priorities—and provides signals about the issues the committee is expected to focus on in the future.
    • Vaccinate Your Family issued a statement warning that the revised charter could undermine vaccine confidence by elevating unproven prevention strategies and creating a larger role for individuals without relevant scientific expertise.

STATE POLICY

Oklahoma Reports Increased School Vaccine Exemptions, While West Virginia Will Not Accept Religious Exemptions this School Year

  • An Oklahoma survey shows that 7.6% of public-school kindergarteners and 12.4% of those in private school were granted exemptions to immunization requirements for the 2025-2026 school year, a notable increase from 3.3% and 7%, respectively, during the 2021-22 school year.
  • In West Virginia, public schools will continue operating under the state’s existing policy, which does not allow religious exemptions, while a 2025 executive order seeking to permit such exemptions remains under review by the State Supreme Court.

OUTBREAK OUTLOOK

News on respiratory virus season, measles, pertussis, and other vaccine-preventable and infectious disease outbreaks.

U.S. Measles Cases Surpass 2025 Total as Spread Continues Across the Country

  • As of July 21, the U.S. has reported 2,295 measles cases in 2026—surpassing the CDC’s reported 2025 total of 2,289 cases in less than seven months. This represents an increase of 45 cases since last week.
  • Several states reported new or continued measles activity:
    • Delaware officials this week (Jul. 20) reported the state’s first two measles cases in over a decade.
    • Maryland officials reported five new measles cases last week (Jul. 15), bringing the state to nine total cases in 2026.
    • Pennsylvania’s 2026 total has risen to 114 cases as of July 20—an increase of ten cases in the seven days prior.
    • Tennessee officials reported the state’s third measles case this year.
    • Utah reported four measles cases since last week’s newsletter, bringing the state’s total to 514 cases in 2026.
  • A report published last week (Jul. 15) analyzed measles testing and confirmed cases from South Carolina’s Prisma Health system during the state’s 2025-2026 outbreak.
    • The health system tested more than 400 patients, 81 of whom tested positive for measles. 73% of those who contracted measles were unvaccinated. 13 patients were hospitalized, and two developed measles encephalitis—a condition that causes brain swelling.
    • The findings underscore how gaps in vaccination coverage can quickly translate into serious illness and added strain on the healthcare system.

Ebola Outbreak Becomes Fastest Growing in History as Cases Continue to Spread in the DRC

  • The Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is reported to be the fastest growing Ebola outbreak in history, with 2,423 confirmed cases and 967 deaths reported through July 19.
    • This includes 79 new confirmed cases and 37 deaths from July 18-19.
  • Seven U.S. aid workers are quarantining in Kenya for 21 days under recent restrictions that prohibit Americans from flying directly from the DRC to the U.S.
  • Meanwhile, health officials announced there are no new active ebola cases in Uganda after the last patient receiving treatment was discharged on July 16. The country recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths as part of the current outbreak.
  • Amid ongoing efforts to develop a Bundibugyo vaccine, Africa CDC is planning a study to test whether an approved Ebola vaccine could offer partial protection against Bundibugyo.
    • The trial would assess the effectiveness of Ervebo, an approved vaccine designed to target the more common Zaire Ebola strain, followed by an experimental vaccine being developed against the Sudan strain, among a small cohort of healthcare workers.
    • At least 119 health workers and frontline responders have contracted Bundibugyo during the outbreak and 36 have died.

WHO and UNICEF Report Highlights Slight Improvement in Global Childhood Immunization

  • New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) show that global childhood vaccination coverage improved slightly in 2025, but progress remains uneven.
  • An estimated 13.5 million children received no vaccines during their first year of life, while millions more began but did not complete the recommended schedule.
    • Coverage reached 85% for the three-dose diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) series and 84% for the three-dose hepatitis B series, but only 43% of newborns received the recommended hepatitis B birth dose.
    • HPV first-dose coverage among girls increased to 33%, nearly doubling from 17% in 2019, but remains far below WHO’s 90% goal for 2030.
    • Measles coverage remained well below the 95% threshold needed to prevent outbreaks, with 84% of children receiving a first dose and 77% receiving a second. Fifty-seven countries reported large or disruptive measles outbreaks in 2025, including the U.S., which stands to lose its measles elimination status this fall.
  • WHO and UNICEF warned that conflict, underfunded immunization programs, and rising vaccine hesitancy continue to threaten progress worldwide, calling for renewed investment in immunization, disease surveillance, and efforts to counter false and misleading health information.

REALITY CHECK

These fact checks respond to several recent claims made by different groups and individuals.

CLAIM: The link between vaccines and autism remains unresolved and should be reinvestigated by federal health officials.

  • REALITY: The claim that vaccines may cause autism has been studied extensively for decades, and the evidence does not support a causal relationship.
    • Large-scale studies involving millions of children have consistently found no link between vaccines and autism.
    • Given the concern about this issue, the U.S. government invested congressionally appropriated funds to investigate and confirm vaccine safety with extensive research.
    • Major public health organizations, including WHO, CDC, and Institute of Medicine (IOM)—now called the National Academy of Medicine—have all conducted systematic reviews and concluded that vaccines do not cause autism.
  • Notably, the original theory linking vaccines to autism was based on a single, small, and now-discredited study from nearly 30 years ago that relied on flawed methods, selective data, and unethical practices. The study was fully retracted following investigations that found serious errors, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and research misconduct.
    • Other studies promoted as evidence by vaccine skeptics have also been retracted because of methodological flaws, biased samples, or conflicts of interest.
  • Claims that health authorities have ignored evidence of a vaccine-autism link are also misleading, as the U.S. government has led and supported extensive research, systematic evidence reviews, and dozens of high-quality studies.
    • No environmental factor has been better studied as a potential cause of autism than vaccines.
  • While thorough, evidence-based research into the cause of autism remains ongoing, decades of review do not show any causal relationship to vaccines. Treating this claim as unresolved contradicts evidence-based public messaging, undermining confidence in routine vaccination, and leaving children more vulnerable to preventable diseases.

WHAT TO WATCH

HHS Publishes New Charter for Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines

  • On Tuesday (Jul. 21), HHS published a new Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) charter.
    • The charter language largely mirrors previous versions; however, committee membership and plans could shape important national immunization policy programs, including the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

New Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Modernize VICP

  • Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) introduced the Vaccine Injury Compensation Modernization Act that outlines improvements to the VICP by expanding resources, adding new vaccines, and updating compensation caps.
  • The bill largely mirrors calls for improvements to the program from public health and vaccine advocates like Vaccinate Your Family.

Vaccinate Your Family is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting people of all ages from vaccine-preventable diseases. To learn more, visit us at: vaccinateyourfamily.org

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