The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accepted a controversial recommendation from outside vaccine advisers to tighten guidelines for the COVID vaccine.
Access to the COVID-19 vaccines remains difficult because of an unusual and unexplained delay by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in accepting recommendations from its advisers.
The group voted to make people who want a COVID shot to be briefed on harms and benefits, but in a close vote, it failed to pass a proposal that states should require people to get a prescription.
Though the FDA narrowed criteria for the shots, many people still want them, to avoid illness and protect vulnerable family members. Some are turned down at the pharmacy or have to jump through hoops.
As federal health agencies change their approach to vaccine policy leaving access for COVID shots uncertain, some states are taking things into their own hands.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, says Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is "not following the science," like he said he would during his confirmation hearings earlier this year.
In a blistering hearing, Senators from both parties challenged the health secretary to defend his actions, including on vaccines access and CDC leadership.
As Georgia COVID rates rise, people who want to get the latest vaccine as it hits pharmacy shelves over the coming weeks will likely face a new hitch: They’ll need a doctor’s prescription, at least for now.
A document circulated to members of Congress misinterprets studies and cites debunked research, scientists say. It could influence congressional perceptions of vaccine safety.
Federal health officials have changed the game for COVID vaccine access. Pregnant moms and others who rely on them to protect a high-risk family member are scared.
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. announced that CDC recommendations for COVID vaccines will no longer include healthy pregnant women and healthy children.
Lower-income countries did not get the COVID vaccines they needed. So the World Bank and other partners tapped a South African company to cook up the (undisclosed) recipe for the Moderna mRNA vaccine.
Preliminary laboratory studies find antibodies from previous infections and vaccinations can neutralize the BA.2.86 variant. The findings bode well for new boosters on the way this fall.
