CVS Halts COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout in 16 States Pending ACIP Guidance
Amidst evolving recommendations for updated COVID-19 vaccines, CVS Health has paused initial vaccine offerings in 16 states until the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) convenes and issues its final guidance. The decision follows indications from several medical associations that they would not instantly adopt the new recommendations.
The delay underscores a growing tension between the rollout of new vaccines and the need for consistent, expert-backed guidance. Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, emphasized the critical importance of vaccine administration. “The importent thing is not just having vaccines; it’s vaccination. If we are not able to get vaccines into people’s arms, we have a problem. We are watching vaccines become weapons, rather than what they have been and should be, wich is tools for public health,” he told Infectious Disease Special Edition.
The situation unfolds as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) undergoes a leadership transition. on August 28, Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human services (HHS), was appointed as acting director of the CDC. O’Neill, a former speechwriter for HHS during the George W. Bush administration and recent associate of tech investor Peter Thiel, is the first CDC director in history without a medical degree, PhD, or both.During a white House press conference on august 28, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra expressed confidence in the agency’s future. “There’s a lot of trouble at CDC and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order for us to change the institutional culture and bring back pride and self-esteem and make that agency the stellar agency that it’s always been,” Becerra stated. “I’m very confident in the political staff that we have down there now, that they’re going to be able to accomplish that and ensure the confident functionality of that agency.”
Secretary Becerra also addressed a claim circulating regarding the CDC’s past accomplishments, clarifying that the agency’s list of “Ten Great Public Health Achievements – United States, 1900-1999” - as published in MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep (1999;48[12]:241-243) – includes vaccination, motor vehicle safety, safer workplaces, control of infectious diseases, declines in deaths from heart disease and stroke, safer foods, healthier mothers and babies, family planning, fluoridation of drinking water, and recognition of tobacco’s health hazards.