The CDC’s latest guidelines could wind up lowering vaccination rates for truly dangerous diseases, like polio and measles. Dr. Vinay Prasad writes.
On Thursday, the CDC’s advisory committee on vaccines voted unanimously—15 to 0—to add the Covid-19 vaccine to the country’s childhood immunization schedule.
This schedule of vaccines—which includes the vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR); tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap); and inactivated polio—serves as the roadmap of routinely recommended vaccines for children across the nation. That’s among the many reasons the committee’s vote is consequential: State and local governments turn to the CDC’s guidance when deciding public health policy. The CDC has yet to adopt this guidance, but likely will in the coming weeks.
