The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is changing its guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccine and the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine (MMRV) to match new recommendations from its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
These changes are based on the advisories from a two-day meeting of the ACIP in September, which were then approved by the acting director of the CDC and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O'Neill.
The COVID-19 vaccine will now be recommended on an "individual-based decision-making" basis for people under age 65.
"It means that the clinical decision to vaccinate should be based on patient characteristics that, unlike age, are difficult to incorporate in recommendations, including risk factors for the underlying disease as well as the characteristics of the vaccine itself and the best available evidence of who may benefit from vaccination," the CDC said in a press release.
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The CDC claims that these new guidelines will still allow for coverage "through all payment mechanisms, including entitlement programs such as the Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Vaccines for Children Program, as well as insurance plans regulated by the Affordable Care Act."
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The agency will no longer recommend a combined MMRV shot for young children under the age of 3, instead recommending babies receive a chickenpox and MMR vaccine as separate shots.
The CDC said evidence was presented to the ACIP last month that showed "healthy 12–23 months old toddlers have increased risk of febrile seizure seven to 10 days after vaccination for the combined [MMRV] vaccine compared to those given immunization for chickenpox separately."
The CDC's website will reflect these changes to its recommendations starting Tuesday.
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