A key federal advisory panel handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr spent two chaotic days debating potentially significant changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccination policy but left the most controversial recommendation for another time.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted on Thursday not to recommend the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine for any patient under 4 years old, reversing current guidance.

Following a lengthy and at times confusing and contentious discussion, the panel declined to vote on a change to the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.

The panel unanimously adopted a more restrictive recommendation for COVID-19 shots, though the practical implications aren’t yet clear.

The panel’s recommendations carry enormous importance. Most private insurers are required to cover the shots ACIP recommends, and many state policies on vaccines are tied to the committee’s guidelines.

Here are key takeaways.

The childhood vaccine schedule is changing

The panel, chosen by Kennedy after he dismissed the previous panel in June, made its first edit to the childhood vaccine schedule on Thursday.

The committee voted 8-3 to recommend delaying the use of the combined measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox vaccine. The shot is given to about 15 percent of children nationwide. It carries a slightly elevated risk of febrile seizures.

Instead of a combined shot, the panel recommended two separate vaccines; one against measle, mumps and rubella (MMR) and another for chickenpox.

Despite the relatively low uptake of the combined shot, liaison members from professional medical groups repeatedly pointed out that there was no new evidence to justify the change and urged the panel not to act.

ACIP member Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, voted against the change. He argued febrile........

© The Hill