Covid vaccines: How is policy changing in the US and UK?

US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr recently moved to restrict access to covid vaccination in the apparent name of safety.On 20 September the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)-purged by Kennedy in June and replaced with new members criticised for holding vaccine sceptic views 1 -voted on their covid vaccine recommendations for the coming year. 2 The committee stopped short of making a routine recommendation and instead framed covid-19 vaccination as a matter of "individual choice" for all people aged 6 months or older, while noting that the benefits are greater for older adults and people with risk factors.This made the US the first high income country to drop a universal recommendation for covid-19 vaccination.And, working amid a torrent of negative press coverage, Kennedy's panel narrowly balked, in a 7-6 vote, at taking the one measure that public health experts most feared: requiring a doctor's prescription for a covid-19 shot.