The #CDC’s immunization advisory committee—whose membership Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. purged in June and replaced with people more aligned with his anti-vaccine views—is slated to meet this week, starting on Thursday. On the agenda, a topic crucial to the health of the country and its pharma industry: childhood #vaccinations, specifically those that protect against hepatitis B, measles and chickenpox, as well as COVID-19. Typically meetings of this committee, known by its acronym ACIP, are straightforward and off the public’s radar, but since 1964 they’ve served a vital role in setting immunization recommendations and schedules to serve public #health. States generally follow this guidance in setting #vaccine mandates for schools, while insurers typically follow it in determining what shots they’ll cover. Global #immunization efforts saved at least 154 million lives between 1974 and 2024, more than 100 million of them children, according to a study ...