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(WASHINGTON) — An influential group of advisers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during a meeting on Thursday is considering dropping a longstanding recommendation to give all newborns a hepatitis B vaccination in the hospital.

The CDC vaccine advisory committee, called ACIP, is also weighing new restrictions on existing recommendations for the combined MMRV shot to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.

An official vote is expected on Thursday afternoon. From there, the vote will need signoff from the acting CDC director or the Health and Human Services secretary.

The committee is not considering eliminating or recommending against these vaccines completely. But the changes that have been proposed could result in major disruptions and more illness, experts warn.

Experts say these changes could cause confusion, more doctors’ appointments and more individual shots for children, which could potentially lead to missed cases or more infections. It could also complicate vaccine supply and manufacturing logistics.

On Wednesday, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a liver doctor, told reporters that Americans should not have confidence in this committee’s decisions if they change the current vaccination schedule.

“I can promise you there will be some hepatitis B transmission,” Cassidy told reporters when asked what would happen if the committee makes changes to already-existing recommendations.

This week’s meeting is the committee’s second since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 of its members in June. Of the 12 advisers who have since been appointed, many have previously expressed vaccine-skeptical views.

Most major insurance providers have said they will continue covering existing vaccines at least through 2026. But any changes made today will likely impact the more than half of American children who are funded through a federal program, which is tied to the CDC committee recommendations.

The committee members so far are not unanimous during discussion, with some saying the proposed changes could take away parents’ choice — especially regarding the combined MMRV vaccine.

Currently, parents have a choice of giving their children measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox all as one shot, or they can opt to give measles, mumps and rubella as one shot, and give chickenpox as a separate dose. Some studies have suggested a slightly elevated — but overall very rare — risk of seizures when all four are given as a combo shot to kids 12 to 15 months old.

But many parents and clinics may still prefer a single shot. Children also get a second dose of MMRV after the age of 4. The upcoming vote Thursday only discusses the first dose, and parents would still have a choice about their preference for the second shot in older children.

“The disadvantage of giving two doses, or as was suggested, separating the two doses, is that we know compliance falls, and the advantage of combination vaccines is that children and adults are more likely to complete the vaccine requirements if it’s given as a single dose,” said ACIP member Dr. Cody Meissner.

“If parents would choose to have one one jab and one vaccination, it would not be covered by the [federal vaccines for children program] over time accessing clinical care, if they understand the risks and benefits, that option is basically taken away from them,” said Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, another committee member.

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(FAIRFAX, Va.) — Former Vice President Mike Pence will teach politics at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government in the spring.

The former vice president will teach students studying political science, law, public administration, and related fields at the university located in Virginia outside the nation’s capital.

Vice president to President Donald Trump from 2017-2021, Pence will teach seminars that “explore the intersection of politics, leadership, and national governance,” according to George Mason University.

As a public official who has served in both legislative and executive branch roles as congressman, governor and then vice president, Pence said he is excited to share the lessons he has learned with the next generation. Pence is also expected to draw on lessons directly pertaining to his experiences on the campaign trail, in the West Wing and as president of the U.S. Senate, the university said.

“Throughout my years of public service, I have seen firsthand the importance of principled leadership and fidelity to the Constitution in shaping the future of our nation,” Pence said in a statement. “I look forward to sharing these lessons with the next generation of American leaders and learning from the remarkable students and faculty of George Mason University.”

The former vice president acknowledged the importance of higher-level education, saying it plays a “vital role” in preparing future generations for “lives of service and integrity.”

“Now more than ever we should be investing our time and resources into civil discourse on campus, and I’m honored to contribute to that mission,” Pence said.

Since his time as vice president, Pence started his conservative organization, Advancing American Freedom, in 2021 and taught politics at Grove City College in Pennsylvania in 2024 after ending his presidential campaign in 2023.

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(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans plan to vote Friday morning on a short-term measure to fund the government as a shutdown deadline nears, hoping to keep pressure on Democrats who have signaled they will vote to shut down the government if Republicans don’t cave to Democratic demands to restore cuts to Medicaid and extend Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed cautious optimism Thursday that Republicans will pass their 52-day continuing resolution on Friday — a week ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.

“I think we have the votes and I think it’s just very unfortunate the Democrats are trying to play partisan games when we’re in good faith trying to fund the government,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived at the Capitol on Thursday. “So, this is a clean, short-term CR. There’s no tricks to this at all. It’s a total good faith effort to allow appropriators on both sides of the aisle to continue their work. I don’t know how they can object to it. I really don’t.”

With a narrow 219-213 edge over Democrats, Johnson can afford to lose just two Republican defectors in a vote on passage. Several hardline Republicans have signaled they intend to vote against it — though the speaker has repeatedly overcome last-minute holdouts — even if President Donald Trump’s arm-twisting is required to bring the final votes to heel.

The funding plan proposes $30 million in additional member security over a more than seven-week stretch — giving each member of Congress around $7,500 each week to spend on security — more than double their own congressional salary. The package also includes $58 million to meet the Trump administration’s request for supplemental funding for the executive and judicial branches.

That funding supplants a pilot funding program that lawmakers had utilized for member security in the wake of the shooting targeting state lawmakers in Minnesota over the summer.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has expressed opposition to the funding bill and Democrats are likely to follow his lead and vote against it.

“We will not support a partisan spending bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people that continues to gut health care. No one who is following what Republicans have done to rip away health care of the American people can reasonably suggest that responsible legislators should do anything other than push back aggressively to protect the health care of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters this week.

Senate and House Democrats unveiled a counter funding proposal that would only extend government funding until Oct. 31 and include health care-related proposals like rolling back Medicaid cuts in Trump’s megabill that passed earlier this year. This plan is a non-starter with Republicans who control majorities in both chambers.

The GOP plan, however, presents a real challenge in the Senate — if it passes the House — requiring at least seven Democratic votes to reach 60 votes for passage.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has urged Senate Democrats to support the short-term measure, arguing the bill is a clean extension of funding.

“There’s nothing in here about President Trump,” Thune said on the Senate floor this week. “This is a clean funding resolution, bipartisan funding resolution, short-term, to allow the Appropriations Committee to do its work.”

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(NEW YORK) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris has written in her forthcoming memoir that she considered former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as the top choice to be her running mate in her 2024 presidential campaign, according to excerpts of the book obtained by The Atlantic.

But, she wrote, she decided that it would be too risky to have a gay man alongside her as a Black woman on the ballot, given how voters might react, according to the excerpts in The Atlantic.

“We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk. And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness,” Harris wrote in her memoir, “107 Days,” according to The Atlantic.

ABC News has not independently reviewed the excerpts reported by The Atlantic.

Buttigieg’s team declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.

Buttigieg was among the contenders Harris considered as a vice presidential pick for her truncated presidential run, among other rising stars in the Democratic Party such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. In the end, Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

A source close to the selection process told ABC News at the time that Harris liked Walz’s executive experience and a his “strong record of accomplishment for middle class families that models what we want to do nationally.” Harris told supporters in early August 2024 that Walz fit the criteria she sought in a running mate, including that he was “a fighter for the middle class” and a unifying leader.

Harris and Buttigieg did not discuss Harris’ reasoning for the decision, according to a person familiar with their discussions.

In the excerpts reported on by The Atlantic, Harris said that she considered Buttigieg as her top pick because, she wrote, Buttigieg “is a sincere public servant with the rare talent of being able to frame liberal arguments in a way that makes it possible for conservatives to hear them.”

Harris has said that her book, which will be released Tuesday, is a “behind-the-scenes look at my experience leading the shortest presidential campaign in modern history,” which she launched after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024.

In an excerpt published last week in The Atlantic, Harris wrote that Democrats made a mistake and it was “recklessness” to allow Biden to make the decision alone on running for reelection, saying the choice should not have been “left to an individual’s ego.”

ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie, and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said he would seek to designate antifa as a “major terrorist organization,” saying that the far-left-wing group was “sick” and “dangerous.”

The president in a social media post said he would also “strongly recommend” that whoever funds the actions of antifa groups should be investigated.

“I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” Trump said.

He added, “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

It was not immediately clear how such a designation would be made for antifa, which is an umbrella description for far-left-leaning militant groups opposing fascists and neo-Nazis. Antifa does not have a publicly known centralized structure or leadership. The U.S. does not maintain a public list of domestic terrorist groups, although the State Department does maintain a list of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Nor was it immediately clear how federal law enforcement authorities might make use of such a designation.

The Congressional Research Service, which collects and analyzes policy details for Congress, said in a 2023 report that while federal law enforcement plays a “significant role” in combating domestic terrorism, there exists a grey area between combating potential violence associated with domestic terrorism and publicly identifying those with extreme beliefs.

Holding extreme beliefs is not, in itself, criminal in the United States, since those beliefs are protected under the First Amendment, the report said.

“Further, the U.S. government does not provide a precise, comprehensive, and public explanation of any particular groups it might consider to be domestic terrorist organizations,” that report said. “Listing groups in this way may infringe on First Amendment-protected free speech—or the act of belonging to an ideological group, which in and of itself is not a crime in the United States.”

Trump’s comments on social media on Wednesday followed others he and members of his administration have made about antifa and left-leaning groups in the wake of the fatal shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk.

Trump on Monday said during an Oval Office event that he thinks Tyler Robinson, 22, the suspect charged in Kirk’s killing, may have been “radicalized” toward the “left” in a short period of time through his use of the internet.

“That’s my opinion, I think he was radicalized online based on what they’re saying,” Trump said.

“That’s just by watching the same things that you’re watching and hearing it looks like he became radicalized over the internet,” Trump said, then suggesting that his parents, who are allegedly Republican-aligned, were “wonderful.”

“Looks like he was radicalized over the internet, and it’s radicalized on the left, he’s a left. A lot of problems with the left, and they get protected, and they shouldn’t be protected,” Trump added.

He later added on Monday that he would “100%” consider designating antifa as a domestic terror organization.

It was not clear whether Robinson was influenced by or affiliated with antifa.

Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller on Monday said the White House would be targeting nongovernmental organizations that they said were fomenting violence.

“What you’re referring to is there are these nonprofit entities that organize, as the president mentioned, attacks on ICE officers, attacks on Border Patrol agents, organized doxing campaigns, which are a violation of federal law,” Miller said.

He added, “So there’s this whole network of organizations. And I think the key point the president’s been making is somebody is paying for all of this. This is not happening for free. And so under the president’s direction, the attorney general is going to find out who is paying for it, and they will not be criminally liable for paying for violence.”

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