ATLANTA — A federal advisory panel that recommends vaccines for the public voted Friday to restrict access to the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella shot for low-income children under the age of 4. Those children will still be able to receive separate MMR and varicella shots, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already said it prefers as there is a very small but higher seizure risk when giving the first dose combined.

The vote came during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on how the combined shot is covered by the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program , which provides low-cost or free vaccines for about half of the children in the country who are uninsured or on Medicaid. A day earlier, the committee had refused to restrict ac

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