The Brief

Parents and schools are scrambling to understand the latest changes to immunization guidance and claims around vaccine safety by appointed health leaders in the Trump administration.

Here’s what parents need to know:

As measles infections reached a new high on Sept. 24, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doubled down on false claims about vaccines and pointed to evidence to support new changes to vaccine recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I think what’s pretty alarming here is that if there was such data [that] existed, the CDC Director and Chief Medical Officer would absolutely be aware of it,” said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, in response to former CDC Director Susan Monarez, who noted in congressional questioning that she has “not seen that data” and was ousted by Kennedy over vaccine guidance.

MMRV — measles, mumps, rubella and varicella 

The CDC’s federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted on Sept. 18 to stop recommending the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella combination vaccine for children under the age of 4. The panel, which Kennedy overhauled to include vaccine skeptics, instead voted to recommend the standalone varicella (chickenpox) vaccine for toddlers through age 3.

Many public health experts have argued that the MMR vaccine is safe and effective, and have debunked claims linking vaccines to autism. The CDC panel’s decision could mean that some children will be denied access to MMR combination vaccines, because their health insurers won’t be required to cover vaccinations since the CDC does not recommend them.

COVID-19

The CDC panel also significantly narrowed its COVID-19 vaccine recommendation to just adults age 65 and older and those at high risk due to certain medical conditions, excluding children and adolescents. This also means that health insurers may soon stop covering the COVID-19 vaccine for families who are not protected by state law.

Children are covered for vaccines in California 

In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law that requires all immunizations recommended by the California Department of Public Health to be covered by health insurers. This means that vaccines for all California residents, including children, will be covered in most cases by health plans such as Medi-Cal and private insurance.

California, along with Oregon and Washington state, is part of the West Coast Health Alliance, which breaks from the new federal guidance. It has issued immunization recommendations informed by state and national public health organizations.

California continues to mandate the MMR vaccine for children, based on CDC recommendations as of Jan. 1, 2025:

• One dose of the MMR vaccine at 12 months of age and another at 4-6 years old
• Both doses for children, adolescents and adults without documented MMR doses 

Who pays?

The MMRV vaccine, as well as all other required childhood vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and hepatitis B, are still covered by health insurers. Federal programs like Vaccines for Children still provide free vaccines for children under 19 who are uninsured, underinsured, on Medi-Cal or are American Indian or Alaska Native. Local health departments, community clinics and school-based health centers also provide vaccines regardless of insurance, and they are not allowed to turn away a child due to an inability to pay or missing insurance information.

Vaccination sites can be found here. 

COVID-19 and flu recommendations 

California issued more specific guidance for the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season on Sept. 15.

The panel recommends the fall 2025 COVID-19 vaccine for:

• Infants age 6 to 23 months 
• Children and adolescents age 2 to 18 years old with risk factors or who were never vaccinated against Covid-19
• Children and adolescents in close contact with those with risk factors
• Children and adolescents who choose additional protection against the virus
• Adults 18 and older 

These recommendations followed reports of some Californians scrambling to get COVID-19 shots. Now, everyone in California should be able to access the COVID-19 vaccine. Southwestern states, including California, reached a 12.5% Covid-19 infection rate as the school year began, the highest in the nation, according to data from the CDC. The spike comes from the highly infectious Stratus variant, the latest mutation of the COVID-19 virus.

The panel recommends the fall 2025 flu vaccine for:

• All children and adolescents 6 months and older

The panel recommends the RSV vaccine for:

• Infants younger than 8 months
• Infants 8-19 months old with risk factors 

Families can receive these vaccines at community clinics, school-based health centers and pharmacies such as Walgreens or CVS. Insurance information is not required.

New guidance on vaccine misinformation 

The CDC panel is also expected to issue guidance on the hepatitis B vaccine through a now-delayed vote. But public health experts recommend families continue to follow guidance from health experts such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

For families following the CDC panel’s votes — and anti-vaccine claims made by some panel members — the Vaccine Integrity Project, a consortium of public health experts, provides tips to help identify misinformation.

Federal immigration enforcement authorities are facing scrutiny and widespread criticism over their tactics, including the lack of body-worn cameras, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis.

Several factors have led to this: Federal law does not mandate the use of body cameras by the two agencies tasked with leading the efforts to arrest and detain illegal immigrants — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Additionally, there is a shortage of cameras and a de-prioritization of body-camera programs in the second Trump administration.

This month, immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti – in separate incidents, and have since been confronted by large crowds of protesters and legal observers. The administration has defended the actions of the two officers involved in the shootings.

After Pretti's killing Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the VA nurse was committing an "act of terrorism" by "attacking" officers and "brandishing" a weapon. The video evidence and eyewitness accounts that have surfaced so far refute that assertion. There has been no evidence that NPR has verified of Pretti brandishing his handgun at any time during the encounter with federal agents.

"There is body camera footage from multiple angles which investigators are currently reviewing," a DHS official told NPR in a statement Monday. The investigation is being led by Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, and supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. CBP will also do an internal investigation.

There are about 2,000 immigration officers rotating through Minneapolis for what the administration dubs "Operation Metro Surge." Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates have criticized the rapid deployment of ICE officers and Border Patrol agents, as well as the officers' tactics to control crowds and conduct arrests. Minnesota officials are suing the administration over these tactics. Criticism has also centered on whether officers are or should be using body-worn cameras that can document these incidents.

A shortage of body cams

ICE is struggling in Minneapolis to use body-worn cameras: first, there are none available in the area; second, officers deployed are not properly trained in their use.
In written testimony, Samuel Olson, field office director in St. Paul for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, said that body-worn cameras had not been implemented for ICE officers out of his office.

"To equip every ICE law enforcement personnel operating out of Minnesota with a BWC [body worn camera] device will require approximately 2,000 devices," Olson said, adding that ICE would also need 180 days to ship, install, and test the necessary equipment and train hundreds of law enforcement personnel on proper usage, maintenance, and storage.

Furthermore, there are no body-worn cameras "physically located" at the St. Paul field office and that the agency would have to ship in additional devices, potentially needing more than ICE nationally has.

"At this time, the ERO St. Paul Office is not scheduled or funded for BWC deployment. ICE law enforcement personnel out of the ERO St. Paul Offices are not properly prepared, trained, or equipped for an immediate deployment of BWC use," Olson said.

Customs and Border Protection has a slightly different situation.

According to court filings, body cameras "will be used to record official law enforcement encounters, except when doing so may jeopardize agents and officers or public safety."

"For purposes of Operation Metro Surge, CBP personnel who are equipped with and trained in [body cameras], have been instructed to have their body-worn camera on their person for use in operations," said Kyle Harvick, deputy incident commander with Border Patrol overseeing border patrol operation in Minneapolis during "Operation Metro Surge."

Changing policy on body cameras

In 2021 Congress mandated ICE work with the Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to design a pilot program for body-worn cameras. A 2024 report says the agency expected body cameras to be implemented agency wide by September 2025.

This was a part of a broader Biden administration executive order to expand the use of body cameras to federal law enforcement.

When President Donald Trump began his second term in 2025, he rescinded Biden's executive order related to body camera use by federal law enforcement. The office tasked with helping to oversee the ICE pilot program was also depleted.

The use of body cameras has surfaced several times during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. In Chicago, District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order in October ordering federal agents conducting immigration enforcement in her district to activate their body cameras if they have them and unless exempted by agency policy. An appeals panel in the seventh circuit later overturned Ellis' order, which also included broader limits on use of force.

In order to address concerns about the lack of body cameras, lawmakers in the House recently passed a spending bill that would provide DHS with $20 million for cameras for ICE and CBP. But the bill only mandates the money be spent -- it does not mandate the use of the cameras.

After the latest deadly shooting, the broader package is in limbo. Senate Democrats are seemingly more resistant to passing the package, which would fund the entire federal government.
Copyright 2026 NPR

SoCal is going to get slightly warmer this week, and there's a chance that it's going to be windy come Wednesday.

In Orange County, coastal areas will see highs around 61 degrees. Meanwhile, in L.A. County, the beaches will be a bit warmer with highs from 69 to 75 degrees.

More inland, the valleys and the Inland Empire will see highs from 69 to 75 degrees. We can expect similar temperatures in Coachella Valley, but in the Antelope Valley, it will be chilly, with highs from 55 to 63 degrees.

Children’s Hospital of Orange County is now the latest Southern California medical provider to stop offering gender-affirming care, blaming investigations and escalating actions from the federal government.

The hospital, as well as other hospitals in San Diego and Riverside counties under the Rady Children’s umbrella organization, has said that it will stop offering gender-affirming care to patients under 19 effective Feb. 6.

The decision has forced patients to scramble to find healthcare in a span of two weeks or risk complications from a forced withdrawal from hormone therapy.

The backlash from community members has been swift after dozens of protesters recently hit the streets outside CHOC’s hospital in Orange to rally against the decision.

CHOC said it’s making the decision under duress to preserve funding for all its patients amid proposed federal rules that would pull all Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals that offer gender-affirming care to people under 19.

“This was a very difficult decision, made to ensure we can continue serving all children and families across the communities we serve,” a CHOC spokesperson said in a statement to LAist.

But parents of CHOC patients who attended a rally Saturday opposing the move said that they were not consulted by hospital leadership for the decision. Some said they would have advocated for CHOC to preserve its gender-affirming care clinic if they were.

Security guards stood watch over the rally from the roof of an adjacent CHOC-owned building.

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Haley Horton, a mother who carpools with trans youth CHOC patients, said the clinic’s planned closure was a “business decision.”

“ I know my son's nurse who's at this hospital doesn't want that happening,” Horton said. “I know the doctors at this hospital don't want this to happen.”

The background behind the decision

An ongoing concern for hospitals is the potential that their Medicaid and Medicare funding will be revoked if they offer gender-affirming care to minors.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are currently in the middle of a public comment period for two proposed rule changes that would defund gender-affirming care for youth, and restrict all Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide the care.

Those rules have not taken effect and are expected to be challenged by LGBTQ+ legal rights organizations.

A CHOC spokesperson also confirmed to LAist that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general’s office had launched an investigation into the hospital. Legal experts interviewed by LAist have referred to subpoenas and investigations launched by the federal government as “scare tactics,” and say that it’s possible they won’t hold up in court.

According to TransFamily Support Services, a San Diego-based organization that also protested the closure of Rady Children’s Hospital’s clinic in San Diego, the hospital system will continue to offer services like hormone replacement therapy to people 19 and older even though the clinics are closing.

The hospital did not respond to a direct question from LAist asking the hospital what provisions were being made for families who now have two weeks to find another health care provider in an extremely precarious market. When Children’s Hospital Los Angeles closed its gender-affirming care clinic last July, administrators gave families a six-week off-ramp to find another provider, and many doctors wrote out prescriptions to tide people over for months.

What families are saying

Horton has been in touch with the families she knows with trans teenagers who are patients at CHOC. She told LAist that those families did not attend the weekend rally in order to protect their mental health as they “scramble” to find alternate care.

The rally also drew turnout from elected officials and public figures, like Tustin School Board Trustee Allyson Muñiz Damikolas.

Muñiz Damikolas said she came out on behalf of her kids, who are also patients at CHOC due to a complex medical condition, and to support trans youth nationwide.

Chris Kluwe, a former NFL player turned political advocate who’s running to represent Huntington Beach in the state assembly, said CHOC’s leaders were “cowardly bureaucrats who aren't willing to stand up and do the right thing” in the face of a “tyrannical federal government."

Chris Kluwe, who's running to represent Huntington Beach in the state assembly, showed up to rally against the CHOC clinic's closure.

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OC LGBTQ+  groups denounce the move

“ I'm a transgender woman and I'm here to tell you that denying people this gender affirming care doesn't make gender dysphoria go away,” said Stephanie Wade, chair of Lavender Dems of Orange County. “All it does is make it metastasize into suicidal depression. And I've been there. I dealt with this as a child. We can't take this away from kids.”

Wade pointed to studies that show that trans youth who are denied access to gender-affirming care are more likely to attempt suicide.

Stephanie Wade of Lavender Democrats was one of many local LGBTQ political leaders attending Saturday's rally.

Felicity Figueroa, the chair of the Orange County Equality Coalition, called on hospital leadership to consult with the families and doctors, especially given that the proposed federal rules have not yet taken effect.

 “They're saying it's gonna affect the other kids who aren't LGBTQ,” Figueroa said. “But are they asking the parents of the other kids if they're willing to throw their neighbor's kids under the bus just because of a [possibility]? That's the thing. They aren't listening.”

Lasting concerns 

Brit Cervantes of OCGAPNet, an advocacy organization for gender-affirming providers in Orange County, said the closure of CHOC’s clinic would likely have ripple effects that could reverberate for years.

“ There's going to be a time where we exist beyond this administration, and we will have to work to rebuild this trust with our patients after we abandon them.  That is a very long lasting impact,” Cervantes said.

Cervantes, a medical professional, said that discontinuing hormone therapy can lead to major complications akin to what menopausal women experience.

In addition to the effects on local adolescents, the rally’s organizers also pointed to what they saw as a wider-scale erosion of rights and norms under the second Trump administration. It took place on the same day that ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by immigration agents on the streets of Minneapolis.

Speakers at the rally outside CHOC blasted the hospital leadership for capitulating to the Trump administration.

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Kanan Durham, executive director of the Huntington Beach-based nonprofit Pride at the Pier, linked the closure to “blackmail, intimidation and state violence” happening at other levels of the federal government, including the actions of immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis.

“ Suggesting that evidenced-based health care that is supported by every major institution in the Western world is medical fraud is to set a foundation where the government can decide who is allowed to have health care and who is not,” Durham said. “They are making decisions based on their own moral judgements. And if that's where they're coming from, then any American, anybody living in this country has their health care under risk.”

The backstory

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which was the largest provider of pediatric gender-affirming care in the country, closed its Center for Transyouth Health and Development last July, affecting even patients over 19.

That was followed by other providers who said they’d stop or pause certain types of health care for trans youth, including Kaiser Permanente’s ongoing pause of gender-affirming surgeries and certain implants for people under 19.

Advocates say these closures are making it harder and harder for trans youth in Southern California to find the care that they need.

Pride at the Pier, OCGAPNet and TransFamily Support Services are also soliciting signatures for an open letter to CHOC and Rady’s leadership asking them to reverse their decision.

To weigh in on the CMS rule changes, visit this website.

Palisades Charter High School is reopening Tuesday a little more than a year after fire tore through campus and the surrounding community.

The Palisades Fire destroyed 30% of the campus, including classrooms, the track and field. Now there is a wide grassy expanse where the “J” building once stood. Bulldozers cleared the baseball diamond to make way for three dozen portable classrooms. Many of the campus’ trees are still standing with blackened trunks.

A few of the 2,400 students expected to return in-person toured the campus Monday, including junior Jackson Richmond. He said despite the changes, the campus still feels familiar.

“Nothing just beats like the look of Pali,” Richmond said. “Like it's in movies for a reason.”

But other Palisades families are more cautious about returning. Some parents have raised concerns about whether the remediation efforts went far enough and how the test results were communicated to families.

“ I have mixed feelings,” said Victoria Kotlyar, parent of two sophomores. “I'm happy that they're gonna have a school to go to, but I am concerned about just the environment and if there's any pollution.”

The process to reopen the school included debris removal, cleaning, and multiple rounds of soil, water, air and surface testing in the new and remaining buildings.

Temporary classrooms at Palisades Charter High School.

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“At the moment, I'm 100% convinced that we are in a very safe environment,” said Principal Pamela Magee on Monday. “We've got folks watching out to make sure that that continues into the future.”

Environmental testing continues

Pali High was once part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school converted to an independently run charter school in 1993, but continues to lease its campus from the district.

LAUSD coordinated and paid for the post-fire clean-up.

The district also hired outside contractors to test, clean and retest the soil, water, air and surfaces in the remaining and new structures for toxins related to the wildfire.  

 ”As we cleared spaces, we tested them immediately afterwards to make sure…the cleaning was effective,” said Jennifer Flores, LAUSD’s deputy director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, in a virtual community meeting on January 21.

Flores said the district re-tested in November and December 2025 to ensure the campus was not harmed by the demolition and construction in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“This is not that we're doing one large environmental test and we're done now,” Flores said. “We will be doing periodic sampling and analysis at this school and all the schools that were directly impacted by the fire.”

For example, the district has installed air sensors at the school that can detect two types of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide, which are associated with pollution.

District officials and contractors said testing cleared the vast majority of the school for occupancy. The areas that remain closed include the “stadium by the sea,” pool and related buildings, which are still under construction and anticipated to reopen by the end of February, according to Palisades High Director of Operations Rafael Negroe.

Friday, the school district asked a group of researchers studying the health impacts of the fires to review a summary of the clean-up efforts and test results.

A grassy field at Palisades Charter High School where a building once stood.

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The study co-leads, including UCLA environmental health sciences professor Yifang Zhu, concluded they would be comfortable sending their own children back to Pali High. (Zhu said she and her colleagues were not compensated for their evaluation.)

“There's always chemicals you can detect, but I think we should really think through the lens…what is the additional level of risk?” Zhu said.

Zhu, whose daughter is a recent graduate of the school, said the decision is ultimately up to each family.

“There's no such thing as zero risk,” Zhu said. “Risk is very personal. Every family is…different.”