Newsletters

Dr. Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, will leave the agency in April following a year marked by agency turbulence and controversial regulatory decisions; a federal judge is weighing a preliminary injunction against HHS in AAP’s lawsuit, which would halt implementation of the new CDC childhood immunization schedule and the upcoming ACIP meeting.

HHS announced agenda items for ACIP’s March meeting, which will include Covid vaccine injuries and Long Covid, as well as two new committee members; the Senate HELP Committee held a hearing for Surgeon General nominee Casey Means, who face questions regarding vaccines, and her path to confirmation remains unclear.

ACIP’s scheduled Feb. 25-27 meeting was postponed to Mar. 18-19 amid ongoing CDC turmoil, including the sudden departure of the agency’s top official and legal challenges; AAP has urged a swift decision on its motion to pause ACIP proceedings, and 15 states filed a separate lawsuit challenging changes to the federal immunization guidance and policy. 

After initially rejecting Moderna’s application for its mRNA flu vaccine, the FDA reversed course after the company proposed a revised approval strategy; the AMA and VIP will conduct an independent vaccine review ahead of the 2026–27 respiratory season in a departure from the CDC.

Iowa advanced legislation to eliminate K–12 school immunization requirements, a major policy break that public health experts warn could increase preventable outbreaks; similar rollback efforts are gaining traction in Florida and New Hampshire; states moved to preserve outbreak surveillance after the U.S. exited the WHO, with California, Illinois, and New York joining the WHO’s outbreak network amid concerns about weakened early-warning systems.

Nearly half of the CDC’s routinely updated surveillance databases stopped adding new data in 2025, with the vast majority of impacted data related to vaccine surveillance; the U.S. will withhold new funding from Gavi unless it phases out thimerosal-containing vaccines, which could impact immunization efforts in lower-income countries.

AAP released its 2026 vaccine guidance, which maintains broader routine pediatric vaccine recommendations and has been endorsed by 12 major medical organizations, formally breaking with the CDC’s scaled-back schedule and highlighting a growing divide between federal policy, the medical community, and many states; the new ACIP Chair raised doubts about routine vaccination against polio and measles, highlighting personal choice as his top priority in vaccine recommendations.

Kennedy removed four members of the federal advisory panel that oversees the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in what is seen as an early step to remake the program; the FDA has requested that flu vaccine manufacturers update their labels to include a warning on febrile seizures.

The new CDC recommended childhood immunization schedule has increased division in U.S. vaccine policy, with many states rejecting the new guidelines and instead following AAP’s recommended schedule; the new childhood schedule may lay the groundwork for Kennedy to overhaul the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which has been a longstanding priority for Secretary Kennedy and his allies.

The CDC announced an updated childhood vaccine schedule that recommends all children be vaccinated against 11 diseases—down from 17—while shifting other vaccines to high-risk groups or shared clinical decision-making recommendations; CMS removed Medicaid reporting requirements related to vaccination status, which will impact ability to track vaccination gaps and prevent outbreaks.