Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease Statement on Changing MMRV Vaccine Recommendations

September 18, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) The Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease (PFID) released the following statement in response to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice’s (ACIP) vote to change the childhood immunization schedule with respect to the measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine:

“We’re deeply concerned ACIP has voted to change the recommendations that allowed children under 4 the option to receive the MMRV vaccine. The decision will deny parents the choice and an important option. We are further concerned that this decision was not based on any new evidence, findings from a workgroup process, or the standard evidence to recommendation (EtR) framework.

“The committee making this recommendation is not the expert, science-driven body that physicians and insurers have trusted for six decades. The current 12 members were hand-selected and rushed into place, some as recently as this week. Many have expressed vaccine skepticism or outright anti-vaccination ideology, and none went through the years-long vetting process traditionally required for a voting role on ACIP.

“American families do deserve radical transparency and gold-standard science. This falls drastically short.

"Even worse, the change comes as the U.S. faces the highest measles case count in 33 years, threatening to strip the country of its eradication status for the first time since 2000. We urge policymakers to intervene now. Keeping children healthy and safe should not be a partisan debate.”