Northeast Ohio experts discuss changes to vaccine recommendations

An advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control made changes to vaccine recommendations in a meeting last week that was described in media reports as tense and chaotic. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or ACIP changed advice on COVID vaccines to a "shared decision-making model." It also changed its recommendation regarding the combined childhood vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella or chicken pox (MMRV). The committee recommended that children under 4 not be given the MMRV vaccine and instead recommended an MMR vaccine and a separate shot for varicella (chicken pox). The committee tabled a decision on whether to delay the birth dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. To begin Wednesday’s “Sound of Ideas,” we're going to talk about the recommendations coming out of the ACIP meeting and what those recommendations mean for those seeking COVID-19 or the MMRV vaccine. Later, Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute joins the program to talk about the Trump administration’s foreign policy in that region.