The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today updated its adult and child immunization schedules to apply individual-based decision-making to COVID-19 vaccination and recommend that toddlers receive protection from varicella (chickenpox) as a standalone immunization rather than in combination with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination.
The immunization schedules adopt recent recommendations by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which were approved last week by Acting Director of the CDC and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O'Neill. The schedules will be updated on CDC.gov by October 7, 2025.
"Informed consent is back," said Deputy Secretary O'Neill. "CDC's 2022 blanket recommendation for perpetual COVID-19 boosters deterred health care providers from talking about the risks and benefits of vaccination for the individual patient or parent. That changes today.
"I commend the doctors and public health experts of ACIP for educating Americans about important vaccine safety signals. I also thank President Trump for his leadership in making sure we protect children from unintended side effects during routine immunization."
Unlike the COVID-19 primary series vaccination pioneered by Operation Warp Speed (OWS) that reached a estimated nearly 85% of the U.S. adult population, just 23% of adults followed the CDC's most recent seasonal booster recommendation according to its National Immunization Survey. The booster shots prompted widespread risk-benefit concerns about their safety and efficacy as the COVID-19 virus became endemic following population-wide immunity acquired during the pandemic and OWS.
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