Thursday, CDC’s independent advisory committee (ACIP) will vote on an updated childhood immunization schedule. States establish vaccine requirements for school children, not ACIP or CDC. More: https://t.co/w80hpKCvtt. https://t.co/xSMZfihtm9
— CDC (@CDCgov) October 19, 2022
CDC’s own Twitter account, along with those of several immunologists, is implying that Tucker Carlson is spreading disinformation when he says that the CDC is voting on whether to add the Covid-19 vaccine to the childhood-vaccine schedule. The claim is that the CDC is just offering guidance, not making policy on behalf of the states, which is true. But state policy often depends on CDC guidance.
This same shuffle happened throughout the pandemic. When popular complaints against restrictive CDC guidance would intensify, CDC officials would disclaim responsibility: Take it up with your state government, they’d say, and governors would deflect complaints by claiming to be merely following CDC recommendations. This is a neat accountability-obscuring device.
Either the CDC believes in its own guidance, or it doesn’t.