US medical groups fill gap with own vaccine guides amid 'information crisis'

Source: The Guardian

Wed 30 Jul 2025 08.00 EDT
Last modified on Wed 30 Jul 2025 08.01 EDT


The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is adopting a recommendation from independent advisers to drop thimerosal, a preservative found in about 4% of flu vaccines, despite evidence that it poses no risks and helps prevent bacterial and fungal infections.

But Robert F Kennedy Jr, the HHS secretary, has not adopted two other votes from the advisory meeting: recommending annual flu vaccines for everyone over the age of six months and RSV shots for infants.

As science becomes increasingly politicized and federal officials change policies on vaccination, sometimes reportedly over the advice of their own scientists, independent scientific groups are now stepping into the gap for evidence-based recommendations. Medical groups now plan to issue vaccine recommendations in the wake of changes to routine vaccine guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Recommendations like these may help the public – and health insurance companies – understand which shots should be part of the routine schedule, and why. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) announced this month that it will release new guidance for Covid, flu and RSV vaccination during pregnancy. The guidance will appear at the end of the summer, before the winter respiratory season.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/30/vaccine-guidelines-recommendations