Vaccine Recommendation - ACIP tabled the vote on changing the hepatitis B vaccination recommendation for newborns indefinitely [1][2] - Current recommendation is for newborns to receive the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they are born [1] - Proposed change considered moving the vaccination to one month after birth if the mother tests negative for hepatitis B [1] - Concern existed regarding the basis for the one-month recommendation [2] Decision-Making Process - Director O'Neal has the final say on recommendations [2] - Director needs a vote to sign off on a new recommendation [3] - Unlikely the director will issue a new recommendation without a vote [3] Other Vaccines - MMRV recommendation is expected to go through [3]

Vaccine Recommendation Changes - The CDC's vaccine panel (ACIP) is scheduled to vote on key immunizations, potentially leading to significant changes in vaccine recommendations [1] - HHS Secretary Kennedy appointed new members to the ACIP, leading to controversy and debate regarding the committee's independence [2] - ACIP Chair emphasized the importance of open scientific debate, referencing a boycott by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) [2] MMRV Vaccine - ACIP will vote on whether to recommend against the combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine for infants and toddlers [3] - The CDC currently recommends separate MMR and varicella shots for young children due to a higher risk of febrile seizures with the combined vaccine [4] Hepatitis B Vaccine - The committee will vote on changes to the hepatitis B vaccination schedule for newborns [4] - Proposals include testing all pregnant women for hepatitis B infection and potentially delaying vaccination until one month of age for babies of mothers who test negative, while maintaining the option for earlier vaccination with doctor's permission [5]

Public Health Concerns & Leadership - Distrust in leaders and misinformation in public health can cost lives [5][6] - Calls for RFK Jr's resignation due to uplifting disinformation and being a dangerous person at the helm of an agency focused on cures and breakthroughs [6][7] - Concerns about Secretary Kennedy's leadership of the nation's top health agency [8] - RFK Jr is accused of mass layoffs, funding freezes, and vaccine guidance inconsistent with science [11] Vaccine Oversight & Scientific Integrity - Former CDC director was allegedly required to pre-confirm/authorize vaccine recommendations site unseen [9] - Allegations of firing top CDC leaders (scientists/experts) who had different advice based on science [9] - Concerns about RFK Jr's vaccine oversight committee being loaded with people sharing conspiracy views about vaccination [9][10] Real-World Consequences - Measles outbreak in Wisconsin with 36 people affected, including two hospitalizations, all unvaccinated [12] - 1,800 school children displaced in Milwaukee due to lead paint, and CDC childhood lead poisoning experts were unavailable due to firings [13]

Vaccination Policy & Exemption Trends - West Virginia's governor issued an executive order to change the state's vaccine exemptions, introducing religious and conscientious exemptions [3] - Previously, West Virginia only allowed medical exemptions and had a high vaccination rate of 98% among kindergarteners in 2023 [4] - Following the governor's announcement, at least 463 non-medical exemptions were issued for the 2025-26 school year [4] - A nationwide trend shows 53% of US counties more than doubled exemption rates, and 77% have seen a decline in vaccination rates since 2019 [5] Legal & Regulatory Landscape - The executive order conflicts with the state code, leading to court battles to determine applicable rules for parents, teachers, and school boards [8] - Lawmakers rejected a bill to put non-medical exemptions into state law, but the governor is backed by the Trump administration [7] - The Department of Health and Human Services requires the state to recognize religious exemptions to receive funding for a childhood vaccine program [7] - Two competing lawsuits are in court, later consolidated, challenging the executive order and seeking to allow non-medical exemptions [7][8][9] Exemption Process & School Board Stance - Obtaining a religious exemption in West Virginia is a simple email process, while medical exemptions require a rigorous two-page form reviewed by a physician and state immunization officer [11][12] - The West Virginia Board of Education is currently not accepting the exemptions because the governor's executive order did not change state law [13] Impact on Children & Education - Children with conditions like Fox G1 syndrome, such as Maxwell, are more vulnerable to illnesses, making vaccination rates a concern [2] - Homeschooling is a safer but isolating option, while public education is considered a constitutional right critical for a child's development [10]

in St. Louis. I know that kids are required to be vaccinated when going to public schools, but it seems as if in your reporting and what NBC has found out is in fact some of these schools are turning kind of a blind eye to this because they don't want to lose federal funding.>> There are a couple of things going on there. The school district answered some of our questions over email, but they did not sit down for an interview with us. But our team made contact with the head nurse and had a conversation with ...

Public Health Policy - Washington State's Health Department issued a standing order for COVID vaccines, aiming to allow residents to get vaccinated at pharmacies or clinics without individual prescriptions [1] - The state action is intended to streamline vaccine access, addressing potential bottlenecks and confusion resulting from federal recommendations [2] - The goal is to ensure all Washington residents have access to COVID vaccine protection based on scientific evidence [3]

Right now, health officials out in LA County in California are telling people, "Please, please go get the measles shot after a child there recently died after complications from the virus." It's just one case out of more than 1,450 across the country, according to the CDC. Of course, for that family, it is not just a statistic. It is a living nightmare here.And these numbers are growing as the outbreaks of measles spread in nearly every state, 41 states. talking fever, runny nose, this blotchy rash that can ...

After Florida's surgeon general said he was removing all state vaccine mandates, including those required for children to attend schools, more states are deciding to go it alone on vaccines. Officials in California, Oregon, and Washington are banding together to provide their own vaccine recommendations after Health Secretary RFK Jr. . replaced CDC's advisory panel.Eight states in the Northwest, Northeast, excuse me, are doing something similar. What's clear is that the US is headed toward two very differen ...

Healthcare & Immunization - Vaccination provides immunity to infants [1] - Vaccination helps protect newborns in the first months of life [1]

Statistical Interpretation & Uncertainty - Statistics addresses reasoning under uncertainty, a more complex question than calculus's rate of change [3] - Challenges like climate change, public health, and AI rely on making decisions with incomplete information [4] - The same data can tell different stories based on its presentation [4] Cognitive Biases in Statistics - Uncertainty is unintuitive, making statistical interpretation prone to errors [3] - Selection bias, where sampling skews results, can affect data interpretation [15] - Common sense is crucial for identifying misinformation and statistical misconceptions [26] - Correlation does not imply causation; coinciding trends don't necessarily indicate a causal relationship [27] COVID-19 Testing & Interpretation - A positive COVID-19 test with 80% sensitivity and 98% specificity may result in less than 50% chance of actually having COVID-19 [9][11] - With 1% of 1,000 people having COVID-19, a test with 80% sensitivity identifies 8 true positives, while 98% specificity results in 20 false positives, leading to a 29% chance of actually having the virus if testing positive [12][13] Data Presentation & Misinterpretation - Misleading graphs can distort data interpretation, such as hospitalization rates based on vaccination status without adjusting for cohort size [28][29] - Hospitalization data adjusted for vaccination cohort size reveals that unvaccinated individuals were overrepresented in hospitalizations [31][33] Combating Statistical Misinformation - Three key questions to combat statistical misinformation: How was the data collected? What is the context? Has the data been pulled or combined? [36][38][40]