The Vaccine Intelligence Report: June 3-9

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

  • An additional study about vaccine safety used in HHS vaccine-related decision-making has been retracted
  • Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill to eliminate the state’s non-medical exemption to school immunization requirements, which supporters say would curb growing exemption rates in the state
  • The U.S. has reported 2,132 measles cases this year, and physicians warn that measles may be signaling a broader return of vaccine-preventable illnesses as childhood vaccination rates decline
  • New studies add to evidence supporting the benefits of RSV and Covid vaccination, finding that maternal RSV vaccination was associated with decreased infant hospitalization risk and that Covid infection poses greater autoimmune risk than vaccination

NEED TO KNOW

Retracted Vaccine Studies Raise Questions About Evidence Behind Recent Policy Changes

  • Several studies that have been used by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and allies to support changes to federal immunization policy are facing new scrutiny, raising questions about what evidence is being used to inform federal vaccine decisions.
  • The Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health retracted a 2010 study that claimed boys who received the hepatitis B vaccine in their first month of life had higher odds of an autism diagnosis. The retraction followed an independent statistical review that identified “serious methodological flaws” in the use of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data.
    • The study had been included in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rapid review of hepatitis B birth-dose safety presented to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last September, and it resurfaced in a December ACIP presentation shortly before the committee voted to move away from the longstanding universal hepatitis B birth-dose recommendation for infants born to mothers who test negative for hepatitis B.
    • While the CDC adopted the revised recommendation, the move has been halted due to an ongoing lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) against Kennedy. As a result, the CDC schedule currently still recommends the hepatitis B birth dose to all infants.
  • The retraction is part of a broader pattern. In addition to the toxicology journal paper, two other studies used by Kennedy or his allies to question vaccine safety have been removed or placed under investigation in recent months.
    • In April, Elsevier similarly removed a 2021 paper linking vaccination to sudden infant death syndrome after identifying serious methodological flaws related to its use of Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data, and Sage Open Medicine placed a 2020 vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated children study under investigation in May.
  • These developments underscore concerns from medical and public health experts that federal immunization recommendations are being revisited using evidence that has not met scientific standards, at a time when childhood vaccination rates are falling and vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks are increasing.

STATE POLICY SPOTLIGHT

Massachusetts Bill Would Eliminate Religious Exemptions to School Immunization Requirements

  • Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill (H 2554) that would eliminate the state’s non-medical exemption to school immunization requirements.
    • If enacted, the bill would remove language allowing parents to exempt children from school immunization requirements based on sincere religious beliefs. It would also require schools to report immunization rates annually and require the state Department of Public Health to publish vaccination and exemption data for each school and district.
  • Supporters note that the legislation would help address pockets of declining vaccine coverage and rising exemption rates in the state. Over 1,000 Massachusetts kindergarteners received non-medical vaccine exemptions during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number on record.
  • The bill has been endorsed by organizations including the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance.

OUTBREAK OUTLOOK

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

Measles Spread Continues Across U.S., Signaling Broader Return of Vaccine-Preventable Illnesses

  • As of June 5, the U.S. has reported 2,132 measles cases in 2026—an increase of 55 cases in the last week and just 82 cases fewer than in all of 2025.
    • New York officials reported one new measles case last week, bringing the state’s total to 12 cases in 2026.
    • Pennsylvania reported 22 new measles cases in the last week, bringing the state’s 2026 total to 62.
    • South Carolina officials reported one new measles case last week (June 3). There have been just two cases reported since the state’s measles outbreak ended on April 27.
    • Utah reported four new cases in the last week, bringing its 2026 total to 482.
    • Virginia officials reported 14 measles cases in the last week, bringing its 2026 total to 106 as of June 9.
  • As measles resurges nationwide, doctors say they are also seeing more children hospitalized with other vaccine-preventable illnesses including pertussis (whooping cough), rotavirus, and serious bacterial infections that can cause pneumonia or meningitis.
  • Public health experts have long viewed measles as an early warning sign of declining vaccination rates more broadly—because measles is so contagious, it is often among the first diseases to spike.
  • One provider in Alabama said she has already treated several children with rotavirus this year after seeing only a few cases over the past decade. Many children were hospitalized, and none of them had received the rotavirus vaccine.
    • Another physician described treating an unvaccinated toddler hospitalized with pneumonia caused by both Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae—which can be prevented by routine childhood Hib and pneumococcal vaccination.
  • Physicians stressed the importance of routine childhood vaccination to avoid further increases in vaccine-preventable diseases.
    • The AAP-recommended childhood immunization schedule helps prevent 18 serious diseases including measles, pertussis, pneumococcal disease, and rotavirus. Increased vaccination rates can help prevent disease transmission and protect children who are too young to be vaccinated.
    • Vaccine hesitancy, along with timing and policy barriers, can contribute to declining vaccination coverage. A new study found that infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were less likely to receive their first rotavirus dose on time—in part because ACIP recommends an age limit on starting the series and waiting until after NICU discharge. More than 50% of NICU babies didn’t leave until after the age cutoff, leading 80% of them to never receive their first dose.

New Studies Affirm Benefits of RSV and Covid Vaccination

  • A new study published in JAMA found that maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination was associated with a nearly 70% reduction in RSV-related infant hospitalizations.
  • Separately, findings from an evidence review of Covid vaccination and autoimmune disease show that Covid infection is associated with a higher risk of autoimmune disorders, without finding evidence that Covid vaccination is tied to this risk.
    • Researchers noted that while rare inflammatory reactions following Covid vaccination have been reported, large studies and meta-analyses have found these events to be uncommon.
    • Experts emphasized that Covid infection is more strongly associated with autoimmune complications, inflammatory conditions, cardiovascular events, and blood clots than vaccination.

REALITY CHECK

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

CLAIM: Vaccinated children have higher rates of chronic health issues than unvaccinated children.

  • REALITY: This claim is not supported by credible evidence. It relies heavily on a small number of flawed studies—several of which have now been retracted, removed, or placed under further scrutiny—while larger and better-designed studies continue to support the safety of the recommended childhood immunization schedule.
  • In addition to the recently removed studies, the original studies that purported to find a link between vaccines and autism have been thoroughly debunked and discredited.
  • These studies reflect a broader problem with many “vaccinated vs. unvaccinated” claims: they often rely on small or non-representative samples, anecdotal parent-reported outcomes, incomplete adjustment for key differences between groups, or simple associations that cannot establish cause and effect.
    • For example, children who receive routine vaccines may also be more likely to have regular medical care, which can increase the likelihood that conditions like asthma, allergies, developmental delays, or ear infections are diagnosed and recorded.
    • Without accounting for these kinds of differences, a study may appear to show higher rates of certain diagnoses among vaccinated children even when vaccination is not the cause.
  • Stronger, reproducible evidence does not support the claim that the recommended childhood immunization schedule causes broad or long-term health problems.
    • A National Academies review of the childhood immunization schedule found no evidence of major safety concerns associated with following the recommended schedule.
    • A nationwide Danish cohort study of approximately 1.2 million children found no evidence that aluminum exposure from early childhood vaccines increased the risk of autoimmune, allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders.
    • A recent systematic review published in The BMJ similarly found that current evidence does not support causal links between aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines and serious or long-term health outcomes, including autism, diabetes, or asthma.
  • Vaccines, like all medical products, can have side effects, and rare adverse events are continuously monitored through clinical trials and post-licensure safety systems. But the existence of rare side effects does not support the much broader claim that vaccinated children are generally less healthy.
  • In reality, vaccines prevent many of the serious health issues that can result from infections, including hospitalization, neurologic complications, chronic disease and cancer, and other severe outcomes from diseases like measles, pertussis, hepatitis B, and pneumococcal disease.

CLAIM: The amount of vaccines American children receive is dangerous and overwhelming to their immune systems.

  • REALITY: The recommended childhood vaccine schedule is carefully reviewed for safety and aims to provide children with immunity before they are most at risk for disease. Claims that children receive too many vaccines often focus on the number of doses, rather than the evidence showing that the schedule is safe and prevents severe illness, hospitalization, and death.
  • Importantly, the number of vaccines on the childhood immunization schedule does not represent the burden on a child’s immune system. That burden is assessed in part based on the number of immunologic components, or antigens, contained in vaccines—not the number of shots administered.
    • Although children today receive more vaccines than in previous generations, the entire routine childhood schedule contains about 165 antigens—fewer than the single smallpox vaccine used decades ago, which contained roughly 200.
    • By contrast, babies and young children are exposed to about 2,000 to 6,000 antigens every day in daily life.
  • Medical and scientific organizations have repeatedly found that receiving multiple vaccines on the recommended schedule does not overwhelm a child’s immune system.
    • Further, the benefits of childhood vaccination are substantial. The CDC estimates that routine childhood vaccinations among children born between 1994 and 2023 will prevent approximately 508 million illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations, and more than 1.1 million deaths over their lifetimes.

WHAT TO WATCH

White House Vetting Former FDA Official Ned Sharpless for Commissioner Role

  • The Trump Administration is reportedly considering former National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director and Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Dr. Norman “Ned” Sharpless, to lead the FDA permanently. Sharpless served in HHS during Trump’s first term and is viewed as a mainstream biomedical research leader.
  • Sharpless has publicly pushed back on several vaccine-related policy changes advanced under Kennedy, including efforts that critics argue undermine established scientific processes.
  • His consideration has fueled speculation that the White House may be seeking to balance Kennedy’s influence over federal health policy with a commissioner perceived as more aligned with traditional FDA scientific and regulatory norms.

CDC Grand Rounds to Spotlight Vaccine Effectiveness Evaluation Methods (June 10)

  • CDC’s Public Health Grand Rounds—being held today (June 10)—will examine how vaccine effectiveness is measured and will assess the strengths and limitations of different study designs used to evaluate vaccine performance.
  • The event comes amid claims by Acting CDC Director Dr. Bhattacharya that long-standing, globally recognized scientific methods, including test-negative design, are “logistically ridiculous.”
  • Featured speakers include Martin Kulldorff, Chief Science Officer in HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and vaccine effectiveness experts Emily Toth Martin (University of Michigan) and Natalie Dean (Emory University).
    • Kulldorff’s participation is particularly notable given his growing role within the Administration’s vaccine agenda. As highlighted in last week’s newsletter, he was a principal author of HHS’s assessment questioning aspects of the evidence supporting routine Covid vaccination recommendations and has become an influential advisor on vaccine policy under Kennedy.

ACIP’s Future Remains Unclear Ahead of Scheduled June Meeting

  • Despite ongoing litigation challenging recent changes to its membership and ongoing questions about the committee’s status, ACIP’s next meeting remains on the CDC’s website for later this month.
  • While there has been no formal indication that the meeting will proceed, its continued presence on the CDC calendar and the recent executive order directing federal agencies to review vaccine recommendations suggest that there may still be efforts underway to convene the committee despite ongoing uncertainty. However, the CDC calendar also lists a March ACIP meeting that was cancelled.
  • If the CDC does intend to convene the meeting as scheduled, briefing materials would typically be published to the Federal Register the week before the meeting; the timing of any notice could provide an early indication of whether HHS intends to move forward with a June convening.
    • If the meeting does proceed, it remains unclear who would participate, whether the committee would be able to take formal votes, and how the ongoing litigation would impact any committee activities.

Kennedy Pursues Access to Medical Records for Autism-Vaccine Research

  • Kennedy is reportedly seeking access to large-scale patient records maintained through state health information exchanges as part of a federal effort to study potential links between vaccines, autism, and vaccine injuries—a topic that has been thoroughly researched and debunked.
  • The initiative has generated significant concern among privacy advocates and health data experts, who have questioned both the scope of the requested data access and the protections that would govern its use.
  • HHS has not offered insight into how it will protect or handle the personal health information it obtains, which could range from doctors’ notes to prescription history.

Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease to Host Hill Briefing on the Future of Vaccine Policy

  • On Tuesday, June 16, the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease (PFID) will convene a Capitol Hill briefing featuring speakers representing PFID and the Immune Deficiency Foundation.
  • The discussion will examine risks to vaccine access and affordability, focusing on the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and how uncertainty around its future could impact vaccine supply, innovation, costs, and public trust.

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