Trump administration makes deep cuts in child vaccine schedule
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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Dec. 19 White House event on lowering drug prices. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Trump administration on Monday dramatically overhauled the federal childhood vaccination schedule, cutting the number of recommended shots to 11 to align with what it called "consensus among peer nations."
Why it matters: It's a major public health gamble that assumes children's health won't be endangered by slashing the number of shots the government recommends for all kids by more than a third since before President Trump re-entered office.
- The changes follow through on Trump's recent directive to top health officials to "align U.S. core childhood vaccine recommendations with best practices from peer, developed countries."
What they're saying: Senior health officials said that the changes were motivated by declining childhood vaccination rates, including against dangerous diseases like measles.
- "We hope that this change will help address decreased uptake of vaccines [against] the most important diseases and increase trust in public health," one of the officials told reporters.
- The slimmed-down recommendations are likely to result in a drop-off in the number of children who receive the non-recommended vaccines, and could be followed by a rise in the prevalence of those diseases.
Driving the news: The CDC is recommending that parents consult with physicians before vaccinating children for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B.
- It will continue to recommend that all children be vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza type B, pneumonia, polio, measles, mumps and rubella, as well as human papillomavirus and chickenpox, or varicella.
- But officials are changing the recommended immunization for HPV to one dose, from two.
The other side: The American Academy of Pediatrics said the changes were made without an adequate review and will only confuse parents and clinicians.
- "If changes to our schedule are needed, and over the years we've made lots of changes when evidence supported it, they should come from careful scientific review and input from lots of different stakeholders," said Sean O'Leary, chair of the medical group's committee on infectious diseases.
- He said some clinicians may stop stocking the vaccines that aren't recommended.
This story has been updated with further reporting.
