The experts on the panel – all appointed by the country’s health secretary, vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy – believe it is sufficient to vaccinate only newborns whose mothers have tested positive or in cases where the mother has not been tested. The council instead wants vaccination to take place at two months of age. The vote was 8-3.
We are causing harm by changing the wording and I am voting no,” said Council Member Cody Meissner.
It is now up to the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Jim O'Neill, to take a position on the ACIP's recommendation.
A yes vote, which is almost always the case, would overturn a recommendation that had been in place since 1991 and was widely seen as a major success for American public health. Experts believe that early immunization is crucial to preventing infection.
