Wired RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisory board could stop recommending some routine childhood immunizations, leaving insurers to decide whether to still cover them. For now, most are remaining tight-lipped. In the wake of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) announcing plans to revisit its recommended schedule for childhood vaccinations—a move that has drawn widespread criticism from experts—major insurers have not confirmed whether they’ll continue to cover the full cost of routine shots for children.
For 60 years ACIP has provided vaccine guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including on the timing and dosage of childhood immunizations. Insurers are required to cover the cost of most jabs on the recommended schedule for children. On Wednesday, June 25, ACIP announced it would review the schedule, just weeks after health secretary and longtime anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced the entire committee with his own appointees.
When WIRED then asked 21 of the country’s largest health insurance groups whether they would stop providing cost-free coverage of current routine immunizations in the event ACIP stops recommending them, only Blue Shield of California—a company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association—confirmed it would continue coverage.