Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices September meeting The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ACIP met on Sept. 18-19. In short, ACIP voted on access to two vaccines as described below (more details following):
● COVID-19 vaccines: Recommended for everyone 6 months and older, but now through shared clinical decision-making — a conversation with a provider rather than a routine, universal recommendation. This is broader than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) license approval for COVID-19 vaccines (the ACIP recommends “off-label” use), but narrower than updated COVID-19 vaccine recommendations from professional societies, including the American Academy 1 of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
● Hepatitis B: While ACIP voted on hepatitis B testing during pregnancy, they chose to not vote on vaccine recommendations. This means the current hepatitis B birth dose recommendations are intact, but ACIP signaled an intention to return to the hepatitis B discussion in the near future.
● MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella): Removed the combination MMRV vaccine as an option for a child’s first dose in the MMR and varicella vaccine series under age 4. ACIP also aligned the Vaccines for Children (VFC) resolution to match the updated recommendation.