CDC panel shifts COVID vaccine policy to individual choice, dividing Southern Nevada residents on personal freedom vs. public health concerns.

As fewer children get their flu shots, cases of a rare, severe complication are rising. Last season, the U.S. experienced the highest number of pediatric flu deaths in 15 years.

The CDC's top vaccine advisory committee voted Friday to change long-standing recommendations around COVID-19 vaccine access for children and adults, though a proposal to require prescriptions for all individuals seeking the shot narrowly failed.

The CDC’s vaccine panel, ACIP, changed its recommendations for childhood vaccines and COVID-19 shots, further limiting access. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. reformed ACIP this year to include doctors and researchers who have publicly questioned vaccine safety.

The group was chosen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. amid controversy. It's changed guidance for for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox shots and deferred proposed changes to hepatitis B.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, called ACIP, on Friday voted to abandon its recommendation for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Only people 65 and over or with underlying health conditions should get the shots, the advisory group recommended. There may be insurance roadblocks for others.

When an email was sent from Virginia statisticians to the CDC asking for an update on the need for state data, the federal agency offered an unusual reply.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has paused a controversial policy that would have ended telework accommodations for employees with disabilities after widespread backlash and legal conce