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.

Two years ago, a judge freed Anthony Bailey after 27 years in the federal penitentiary, giving him a second chance at life.

And Bailey has been making the most of his early release. Between long hours driving a city bus in Indianapolis, attending barbecues and playing card games with family, Bailey has developed deep roots in his community.

Now, after a ruling from the Supreme Court and a legal move by the Justice Department, Bailey, 61, is facing a return to prison in a matter of weeks.

"I'm hoping and praying that everything turn out and I get my life back," Bailey said in an interview. "Today, right now, I'm a better person — I'm a productive citizen, I work hard."

Bailey's case is one of about a dozen that could be directly affected by a Supreme Court ruling in late May that limited how prisoners can use the compassionate release program to get out early.

The high court found that the compassionate release program, designed for extraordinary or compelling circumstances, is supposed to cover such things as severe illness or old age. The court majority said inmates serving much longer sentences than the punishments they would receive today were not automatically eligible for the program.

Retired federal Judge John Gleeson disagrees with that ruling.

"These are indefensibly long sentences, and they need to be corrected," he said. Gleeson launched a pro bono program that has helped more than 100 people in prison petition the courts for early release.

Most of those inmates are Black men who used a gun in connection with other crimes. Prosecutors added severe mandatory penalties to their cases, stacking those punishments, even if no shots were fired, to build prison terms of 50, 60 or even 100 years.

Anthony Bailey (left) poses with family members shortly after his release from prison in July 2024.

(

Via Anthony Bailey

)

"Productive member of society"

That's what happened in Bailey's case.

On Sept. 3, 1997, Bailey and two other men robbed a bank and then carried out two carjackings. Prosecutors said in court papers that his crimes were serious and put several people in danger, including a school-age girl.

"Something that I totally regrets — will never happen again, ever, in life," Bailey said.

He spent most of his time at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., where he worked as a barber — a job that gave him access to scissors and other sharp tools.

His record inside prison was clean for decades, with just one minor infraction mentioned in court filings.

Maryam Kanna is a pro bono lawyer for Bailey. She said he has already served more time than most people convicted of federal murder.

"He has a stable, happy life and is a really productive member of society, so I mean, the idea that he poses a danger is completely farcical," Kanna said.

Congress changed the law, but not retroactively

Prosecutors are now signaling that they could move soon to send Bailey back to serve the rest of his long sentence — one that would give him a release date in 2050, when he is nearly 86 years old.

Kelsie Clayton, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Indiana — where Bailey's case is pending — said the office speaks only through official court filings.

Congress has since lightened some of the harsh mandatory penalties that applied to Bailey and others convicted back in the 1990s. But lawmakers did not make that change retroactive, to apply to people already inside prison.

And the Supreme Court's ruling says that this means those people's punishments are not extraordinary or compelling, as the compassionate release program mandates.

Bailey said he would abide by the law. "OK, just got to keep fighting," he said.

He has been getting good marks from his probation officer, who told him before the Supreme Court decision that she'd recommend his early release from probation this fall.

Now, he's not sure where he'll be in September. He's making the most of his time, enjoying family barbecues and card games in the park and showing his 4-year-old grandson the ropes.

"He's a worker, you know. Everything I do — he sit there and just watch and then he [asks], 'We washing the car?' Or, 'We taking the trash out?' Like, yeah, c'mon."

He's teaching his grandson how to mow the lawn and, as a treat, taking him to enjoy the boy's favorite food: the french fries at McDonald's.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The Los Angeles Unified School Board unanimously approved a policy Tuesday to limit student screen time starting in August.

The decision follows a board vote in the spring that required the district to create a policy to set up guardrails on the amount of time students should spend in front of a digital device.

District officials said that since May they’ve received feedback from nearly 19,000 members in the community. “Student focus and attention were the most frequently cited concerns, along with mental health and wellbeing, online safety, and privacy,” they said.

What does the policy change?

The changes include eliminating use of district-issued digital devices, like tablets and laptops, in the early years, from preschool through 1st grade. And for every other grade level, there will be daily or weekly maximum screen time limits:

• Preschool to 1st grade: 0 minutes (beginning August 2026)
• 2nd to 3rd grade: 20 minutes per day or 100 minutes per week, including homework (beginning November 2026)
• 4th to 5th grade: 30 minutes per day or 150 minutes per week, including homework (beginning November 2026)
• 6th to 8th grade: 60 minutes per subject, per week, including homework, not to exceed 360 minutes per week (beginning January 2027)
• 9th to 12th grade: 90 minutes per subject, per week, not to exceed 600 minutes per week (beginning January 2027)

The policy allows exceptions for subject areas that heavily rely on computers, like computer science, graphic design, and yearbook, and for district and state assessments. It also allows unrestricted use when necessary for students with disabilities.

Board Member Nick Melvoin proposed a successful amendment to reduce the screen time limits for several grades and break up the limitations by subject starting in middle school.

“[It’s] much harder for teachers in secondary to coordinate across five or six subjects,” Melvoin said in explaining the change.

The policy also:

• Bans elementary and middle school students from using devices during lunch or recess, except for school-approved work
• Blocks streaming services like YouTube and “non-approved gaming platforms”
• Allows parents to opt-out of their students taking home a district device
• Encourages laptop cart use for upper elementary school grades
• Will be updated annually 

Board Vice President Rocío Rivas cautioned that the minute limits may discourage teachers from assigning multimedia projects, and adds the burden of monitoring student technology use.

“Schools may end up focusing on counting minutes, documenting usage, auditing classrooms instead of evaluating learning outcomes,” Rivas said.

How much will this cost? 

The district says it’ll cost $4.25 million in one-time costs to buy laptop carts for elementary school classrooms, if each class opts in. And it’ll cost another $1 million annually for software that would track screen time and block content.

How is this different from the cellphone ban?

This policy is about school-issued devices, like laptops and iPads — not student cellphones.

During the pandemic, the district had moved to equip every student with a digital device in an effort to close digital equity gaps.

District officials noted that when adopting the policy, “caution is advised that efforts to close the digital divide for highest needs populations will be negatively impacted.”

Mireya Garcia, a mother and grandmother, told the board that her family shares a single computer at home.

“I don’t want them to lose access to tools that can help them read, to learn and to be successful,” Garcia said.

Board staff clarified the policy does not prevent students of any age from checking out a device for home use from their child’s school.

District analysts, however, also note research shows that device access alone doesn’t lead to better academic outcomes, but that it needs to be coupled with adult supervision and engagement.

“Because families vary widely in their ability to provide consistent supervision, unrestricted take-home devices raise equity concerns,” the district’s office of research and program evaluation wrote.

Some parents say the policy is not enough

Representatives for the parent advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens, which had advocated for the policy, say it’s a good step, but more needs to be done around artificial intelligence.

“We’re setting a new standard for the rest of the country,” said Lila Byock, who founded the group. “From Atlanta, to D.C., to Houston, they’re all trying to do what we’re doing here today.”

Byock and other LAUSD parents associated with Schools Beyond Screens called on the board to reduce the minute limits for students and to adopt a moratorium on AI use until there’s more guidance from the district’s ad hoc committee on the subject.

The Los Angeles City Council took a first step Tuesday to reinstate a law that bans new oil drilling and requires existing wells to be phased out over the next two decades.

The city’s first attempt to pass such a law was in 2022, but oil companies sued and the city had to repeal it. L.A. County has been going through a similar back-and-forth.

Now, with a new state law backing their authority, L.A. officials think they can cap the city’s more than 2,000 wells over the next 20 years — and end L.A.’s distinction as one of the largest urban oil fields in the nation.

“ In my district, we have hundreds of active wells, and our neighbors are ready to move into the next chapter,” District 5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said Tuesday at the council meeting approving the ordinance’s reintroduction. "We know the industry will continue to fight us at every turn.”

For more than 10 years, local groups have pushed for an end to oil drilling near homes, childcare centers, parks and schools.

“ Neighborhood oil drilling is fundamentally incompatible with protecting public health,” said Wendy Miranda with Esperanza Community Housing in Historic South-Central. "We carry this evidence in our bodies. We have experienced countless nosebleeds and headaches, asthma and even cancer.”

Research has shown living near oil infrastructure elevates the risk of such health issues.

In the city of L.A. alone, about 75% of active oil or gas wells are located within 1,700 feet of “sensitive locations,” such as homes and schools. About one-third of all L.A. County residents live less than 1 mile from an active drilling site.

The L.A. City Council will vote again later this summer to finalize its oil phaseout law.

In a document more than 100 pages long, lawyers representing oil companies vowed to fight the law again, saying it violates the companies’ private property and due process rights, among other things.

Culver City and Santa Barbara have passed similar ordinances.

The L.A. City Council on Tuesday agreed to place a half-cent sales tax to fund the fire department on the November ballot. The vote was 14-0.

If approved by voters, the measure would raise $345 million in its first year and would remain in effect until repealed by voters.

United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, the labor union that represents firefighters, sponsored the measure. The union collected more than 225,000 petition signatures to qualify the measure.

“Due to decades of underinvestment, the LAFD currently operates with the same number of firefighters as in the 1960s, six fewer stations and five times the call load,” the union said in a statement issued before the vote.

According to national standards, emergency resources are expected to arrive at nearly all 911 calls within four minutes. Current LAFD response times are almost double this recommended average, according to the union.

The money would be spent on core functions, including hiring additional firefighters and paramedics, building new fire stations and repairing old stations, as well as modernizing equipment.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said no part of L.A. is immune from the growing threat of fire, pointing to the Palisades Fire last year and the Boyle Heights fire currently affecting air quality throughout the region.

“When these emergencies happen, our constituents expect us to be prepared. They expect firefighters to have the staffing, equipment and resources they need to respond quickly and to keep people safe,” she said.

“As climate change and corporate negligence continue to make these emergencies more frequent and more severe, we have a responsibility to be honest about the conversation that it will take to protect our community,” Hernandez added. “This measure gives voters a chance to weigh in on that question directly.”

The current sales tax rate in the city of Los Angeles is 9.75%. The fire measure would increase it to 10.25%.

The measure says new revenue would not be able to replace existing general fund support for the fire department. It also creates a Citizen's Oversight Committee and annual public audits.

Susan Shelly of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said if the city made the fire department a top funding priority, it wouldn’t need a tax increase.

“They should fund the fire department appropriately from the first dollar that's in the budget,” she said.