00:00U.S. vaccine advisors voted on Thursday to revise the use of one of two key childhood
00:06vaccines under review.
00:08The group recommended against allowing parents to choose the combined measles, mumps, rubella,
00:14varicella vaccine before age four.
00:16Instead, two separate vaccine shots will be given.
00:20That marks another step in a push to rewrite U.S. immunization policy by U.S. Health Secretary
00:25Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has, contrary to scientific evidence,
00:32widely promoted the idea that the combined vaccine is linked to autism.
00:36A spokesperson for Merck, which makes the combination MMRV shot, described the vote as unprecedented,
00:42adding that it had, quote, occurred in the absence of new scientific data and in contrast
00:47to years of evidence affirming the current immunization schedule.
00:51Kennedy is moving at breakneck speed to reshape federal vaccine policy.
00:55His efforts have included restricting eligibility to COVID-19 shots, ousting the country's top
01:00public health official, and boosting federal support for state vaccine exemptions.
01:05Kennedy says these moves are needed to restore trust in U.S. public health agencies.
01:10The panel also delayed until Friday a vote on a recommendation to wait to give the hepatitis
01:15B vaccine until infants reach one month of age, rather than at birth, unless the mother tests
01:21positive for the virus.
01:22The committee is also expected to vote on Friday on recommendations on who should get the COVID-19
01:28vaccine.
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