On September 19, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory panel delivered a decision that has left many Americans scratching their heads and public health experts deeply concerned. For the first time in the nation’s history, the panel declined to recommend routine COVID-19 vaccinations for any group—seniors, children, or those at high risk—leaving the choice entirely up to individuals after consultation with healthcare providers. This unprecedented move comes amid the worst U.S. measles outbreak in over 30 years and as COVID-19 continues to pose a significant public health threat.
The decision is the latest in a series of controversial changes initiated by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose long-standing skepticism about vaccines has been well documented. According to the Associated Press, Kennedy’s newly appointed vaccine advisers, many of whom share his views, have upended decades of public health practice. Until now, annual COVID-19 shots had been recommended much like the flu vaccine, as a routine measure for nearly all Americans.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had already taken steps to restrict the 2025 COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax, reserving them for people over 65 or younger individuals deemed at higher risk from the virus. But the CDC panel’s refusal to recommend the shots even for these high-risk groups has left many public health professionals and the public alike wondering what comes next.
“The good news is anyone can get this vaccine. The bad news is that no one is encouraged to get it even if you’re in a high-risk group,” Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and former government adviser, told the Associated Press. “There’s a lot that’s uncertain and the negative effect on public trust will continue.”
The panel’s meeting was described as more freewheeling and chaotic than in the past, with many committee members openly challenging CDC data and raising questions about studies—some involving mice—that the agency’s own safety surveillance systems had not deemed credible. The panel also urged the CDC to adopt stronger language around vaccine risks, despite pushback from outside medical groups who argued that the shots have a proven safety record from billions of doses administered worldwide.
“If you make a recommendation that people are simply not going to follow, I don’t think that’s wise,” Dr. Cody Meissner of Dartmouth College, a panelist, remarked during the meeting. Meissner also voiced concern that requiring a prescription for the vaccine would create barriers to access, noting, “I have to wait a year to see my primary care provider. It’s essentially going to be a barrier.” The panel narrowly avoided recommending such a prescription requirement, which many feared would further reduce vaccination rates.
Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics didn’t mince words about the decision, calling it “extraordinarily vague” and warning of “real-time impacts on American children.” O’Leary said the daylong debate involved clear efforts to “sow distrust” about vaccines. He also criticized the American Academy of Pediatrics’ exclusion from the discussions, arguing that it risked making the organization “irrelevant.”
Meanwhile, several states have announced policies to ensure continued access to COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of the CDC panel’s recommendation. America’s Health Insurance Plans, a group representing most health insurers, stated earlier this week that its members will continue covering the shots through 2026. Still, the lack of a clear federal recommendation has left many healthcare providers and patients uncertain about the best course of action.
CDC data released in June 2025 underscores the ongoing risk: COVID-19 was responsible for between 32,000 and 51,000 U.S. deaths and more than 250,000 hospitalizations last fall and winter. Seniors and young children—especially those who were unvaccinated—were most at risk for severe outcomes. Despite the availability of updated vaccines, only about 44% of seniors and 13% of children were up-to-date on their COVID-19 shots in 2024.
The panel’s decision still requires sign-off from Jim O’Neill, the CDC’s interim director and Kennedy’s deputy at the Department of Health and Human Services. O’Neill, a former investor and critic of health regulations, took the helm after the abrupt firing of Senate-confirmed CDC director Susan Monarez on August 27, 2025.
Monarez’s ouster has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over the nation’s vaccine policies. In testimony before the Senate Health Committee on September 17, Monarez alleged that Kennedy pressured her to approve changes to childhood vaccine schedules that were not supported by scientific evidence. “Even under pressure I could not replace evidence with ideology, or compromise my integrity,” Monarez told senators, adding, “vaccine policy must be guided by credible data, not predetermined outcomes.” She also accused Kennedy of asking her to “rubber-stamp” all recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which he recently overhauled by sacking all its members and replacing them with individuals whose views mirror his own vaccine skepticism.
Former CDC chief medical officer Debra Houry, who resigned after Monarez’s dismissal, echoed these concerns in her own testimony. Houry accused Kennedy of censoring CDC science, politicizing agency processes, and stripping leaders of their independence. Given the pressure placed on scientists and the recent deaths of children from vaccine-preventable diseases, Houry declared, “I think he should resign.”
These leadership changes and policy shifts come as the U.S. grapples with the most severe measles outbreak in over three decades—more than 1,400 confirmed cases and three deaths, including two children, have been reported. The CDC panel also recommended that for children under four, their first dose of protection against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and chickenpox should be given as separate shots, not the combination MMRV vaccine. This aligns with existing CDC guidance, as 85% of toddlers already receive the vaccines separately.
Another topic at the meeting was myocarditis, a rare side effect involving heart inflammation, mostly seen in young men, that was discovered in 2021. The panel heard from a scientist whose grant to study genetic susceptibility to this risk was cancelled by the Trump administration before the research could be completed.
Despite these controversies, independent public health experts say the science remains clear: COVID-19 vaccines, while not perfect, offer the strongest protection against severe infection and death. The virus continues to evolve, and people can be reinfected multiple times—as they can with the flu. Like flu vaccines, COVID-19 shots are now being updated yearly to keep pace with new variants.
The divided CDC panel’s decisions have left many Americans in a state of uncertainty, with some medical groups urging people to follow their own guidelines, which continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone six months and older. As the nation heads into another fall and winter with both COVID-19 and measles posing real threats, the debate over vaccine policy is far from settled.
For now, the future of U.S. vaccination policy hangs in the balance—caught between scientific consensus, political upheaval, and a public left searching for answers.
