Kennedy’s advisory panel recommends new restrictions on U.S. MMRV vaccines – CTV
September 18, 2025
ATLANTA — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine advisory committee on Thursday recommended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopt new restrictions on a combination shot that protects against chickenpox as well as measles, mumps and rubella.
The panel advised that the vaccine known as MMRV not be given before age 4 and that children in this age group instead get separate vaccines — one against MMR and another for varicella, or chickenpox. The vote was 8-3, with one member abstaining.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices put off an expected vote on hepatitis B shots given to infants on the day they are born. On Friday, it’s expected to decide whether to recommend that some babies can wait a month for those shots, and to also take up COVID-19 shots.
The committee makes recommendations to the CDC director on how already-approved vaccines should be used. CDC directors have almost always accepted those recommendations, which are widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs. Committee Chairman Martin Kulldorff said committee members aim to reassure the public and remove unnecessary risks and harms.
