Lawmakers Demand CDC Answers on Vaccine Schedule Overhaul, Measles Deaths
Thirty-one Democratic and independent lawmakers, led by Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Kim Schrier, sent CDC Director Erica Schwartz a letter Oct. 6 demanding written answers by Oct. 16 about the Trump administration's childhood vaccine overhaul and the agency's measles response. They question the Aug. 10 executive order to cut recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11 diseases and split combination shots into single-disease doses not currently available in the U.S., as well as an HHS request for information lawmakers say bypasses CDC and its advisory committee. They also ask who authorized excluding Pennsylvania's measles deaths from the national tally and why COVID-19 vaccine orders through a federal children's vaccine program were delayed until Sept. 24. The letter follows Pennsylvania's fifth measles death and more than 1,000 national cases.