Ruth Jones, immunization nurse, holds a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (brand name: Comirnaty) at Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami, Florida, on May 29, 2025.Joe Raedle | Getty ImagesCovid shot access and coverage in the U.S. hang in the balance as an influential government vaccine panel hand-picked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. convenes this week in Atlanta. The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is scheduled to vote on recommendations for Covid jabs and childhood immunizations for hepatitis B and measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella, or MMRV. Kennedy has gutted and restacked that committee with new members, some of whom are vaccine critics, raising concerns that they could soften, delay or fully eliminate recommendations for routine shots proven to be safe and effective. The panel is expected to vote on the hepatitis B and MMRV shot on Thursday, and Covid vaccines on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose latest director was ousted by the Trump administration earlier this month, typically adopts the panel’s recommendations. Some public health experts warn that weakening recommendations for Covid vaccines and other shots could make it harder for some people — especially healthy adults and children, along with those in rural areas — to access the jabs and have them covered by insurance. One major health insurance group on Wednesday said its member plans will cover all vaccines already recommended by ACIP, including updated Covid and flu shots, despite any changes the new slate of appointees makes this week.Still, any further restrictions on shots by ACIP could have trickle-down effects, further depressing already declining immunization rates for vaccine-preventable diseases and raising the risk of outbreaks.”There’s a pretty good likelihood that the decisions coming out of this meeting will further restrict vaccinations or at a minimum, limit or add confusion to the scope of vaccination coverage at a time when we really need to be doing everything possible to make them as widely available as possible,” Neil Maniar, a public health professor at Northeastern University, told CNBC. “There’s a lot of concern that we could see unnecessary outbreaks of diseases.”Maniar said the votes are especially critical heading into the fall and winter season, when diseases, particularly respiratory viruses like Covid, spread more easily. The panel’s guidance determines which shots insurance pl …
