{"id":895282,"date":"2026-10-26T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895282\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:02:09","slug":"its-a-mess-right-now-rfks-sweeping-changes-place-new-vaccines-in-limbo-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895282\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a mess right now\u2019: RFK\u2019s sweeping changes place new vaccines in limbo | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, and some of the uncertainty may continue for years following major blows to vaccination by the Trump administration<\/a>, experts say.<\/p>\n

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has made sweeping changes to vaccination policy, cutting childhood immunization recommendations by a third and replacing experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with his own handpicked allies.<\/p>\n

A judge\u2019s order halted these changes because they were not done correctly, but Kennedy has not nominated any new ACIP members \u2013 which means there are no new vaccination recommendations coming from the committee, even as new vaccines are approved.<\/p>\n

Ron Kroening, 63, has asthma and bad allergies this time of year, so his doctor recommended the new Moderna mRNA flu vaccine, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August for ages 50 and up. Trials suggest it provides even stronger protection than traditional flu shots.<\/p>\n

It took time to locate the one pharmacy in his area that stocked the shot \u2013 and then Kroening was shocked to be charged a $40 co-pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI figured that was an error because I\u2019ve never had to pay for a flu shot in my life,\u201d he said. But his insurance company told him it\u2019s because there\u2019s no recommendation from the ACIP, Kroening said: \u201cThe reason the mRNA isn\u2019t covered is because it\u2019s not listed as an ACIP vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the ACIP doesn\u2019t recommend the new shot by the end of the year \u2013 a scenario experts say is likely \u2013 insurers won\u2019t be required to cover it until January 2029 at the earliest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really a barrier. And any barrier to immunizations is going to keep people from getting them,\u201d said Kroening, a retired public health employee who worked on immunizations at the state level in Oklahoma. \u201cA $40 co-pay is going to turn people off,\u201d he added, noting that his pharmacist also didn\u2019t inform him that there were other flu shot options.<\/p>\n

Insurers usually have at least a year after FDA approval to add coverage of a new vaccine to their plans, so a co-pay like Kroening\u2019s isn\u2019t unusual in the first year or so. But the difference now is it\u2019s not clear when the vaccine will be fully covered.<\/p>\n

Typically, when a vaccine is approved for a new group of people \u2013 either because it\u2019s new to the market or because the approval expanded to include more people \u2013 insurers have a year from the recommendation to implement it by the next plan year, which usually starts in January. That means if a vaccine is recommended by ACIP in December 2026, insurers are required to cover it by January 2028. If it\u2019s recommended a month later, in January 2027, then the coverage requirement is pushed to January 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legal requirement doesn\u2019t go into effect very quickly. The process takes time,\u201d said Lindsay Wiley, professor of law and faculty director of the Health Law and Policy Program at UCLA Law.<\/p>\n

For the new flu shot, \u201cit seems likely that at best we would get a recommendation next year,\u201d Wiley said, \u201cbut there\u2019s no reason to think\u201d they will do so. \u201cIt\u2019s just delaying more and more and more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The only exception to the law on coverage is for Covid vaccines, because Congress amended the Affordable Care Act to specifically include coverage of Covid immunizations within 15 days of ACIP recommendation.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty around ACIP has other ripple effects. Some states won\u2019t allow pharmacists to give vaccines without an ACIP recommendation. Some of the decisions the committee made before it was disbanded were also halted, including the September 2025 recommendation on new shots to prevent RSV \u2013 though insurers appear to be covering them anyway. A now-voided vote to end the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is influencing potential state-level laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have also been delays<\/a> reported<\/a> for insurers covering the new flu shots for seniors under Medicare, which is mandated by law even without an ACIP recommendation.<\/p>\n

The US government has appealed the part of the judge\u2019s order that disbanded the vaccines committee, but there\u2019s nothing to stop Kennedy from undergoing the correct process for appointing new members, experts say. He hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis White House and DoJ are making no serious attempt to actually revive the vaccine committee,\u201d Aaron Siri, who has served as Kennedy\u2019s lawyer and has litigated cases against vaccine makers, wrote<\/a> on Monday. Siri added: \u201cIt appears the DOJ and the White House are doing everything they can to make sure that there is no functioning vaccine committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dorit Reiss, a vaccines expert at UC Law San Francisco, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government is choosing not to put in place a new ACIP,\u201d she said. She also noted that Kennedy\u2019s slate of advisers were clearly \u201cuninformed\u201d about vaccine policy and it was \u201cembarrassing\u201d, even for anti-vaccine activists, to watch the public meetings.<\/p>\n

There are some advantages for Kennedy not to have a functioning ACIP, Reiss said. \u201cKennedy, in appointing his ACIP, wanted to change the schedule, and they haven\u2019t been anywhere near as quick as he\u2019d like them to be. So, going around ACIP is a plus,\u201d she said. Delaying the reconstitution of the committee may allow him to make his own recommendations, she added.<\/p>\n

Even after the lengthy court case concludes, the way forward for ACIP is shaky, because Kennedy has \u201caggressively undermined\u201d trust in the independence of the committee, Reiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout dramatic changes, it\u2019s probably not coming back the way it was,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has shown that ACIP is politically vulnerable, and I think if we want ACIP to go back to the way it was, we\u2019re going to need a statute that gives it some protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron Kroening\u2019s insurer is a member of the insurance industry group AHIP, which vowed<\/a> to continue covering all shots recommended as of September 2025. And insurers can decide to cover vaccines before they\u2019re required to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccines are more cost-effective than getting the flu,\u201d Kroening said. He said he still would choose the new vaccine despite the co-pay. \u201cI\u2019m able to pay the $40, and I\u2019m happy I did, but still not happy that insurance didn\u2019t cover it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s worried about what all of this means for the future of immunizations in America. \u201cThey\u2019re harder to get now,\u201d Kroening said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mess right now, what they\u2019re doing with our vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, and some of the uncertainty may continue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-895282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}