The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has taken an unusual step of cutting the number of vaccines it recommends for children.
The decision, which advances the agenda of Trump-appointed Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr, removes the recommendation for rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease and hepatitis A vaccines for children.
The new CDC guidance stated that protections against those diseases are only recommended for certain groups deemed high risk, or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”
It comes as US vaccination rates have been slipping, and the rates of diseases that can be protected against with vaccines, such as measles and whooping cough, are rising across the country, according to government data.
Kennedy said in a statement that the decision “protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health.”
The change was effective immediately and carried out following the approval by another Trump appointee, CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neill, without the agency’s usual outside expert review.
Trump administration officials said the overhaul, a move long sought by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., won’t result in families who want the vaccines losing access to them, and said insurance will continue to pay.
However, medical experts said the decision creates confusion for parents and could increase preventable diseases.
States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren but CDC requirements often influence the state regulations, even as some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.
Trump, reacting to the latest CDC decision on his Truth Social platform, said that the new schedule is “far more reasonable” and “finally aligns the United States with other Developed Nations around the World.”
Leading Medical Groups Raise Alarm
In response, the American Medical Association (AMA) said it was “deeply concerned by recent changes to the childhood immunisation schedule that affects the health and safety of millions of children.”
Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, a doctor and AMA trustee, said in a statement posted on the group’s website that vaccination policy has long been guided by a rigorous, transparent scientific process grounded in decades of evidence “showing that vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving.”
She pointed out that major policy changes needed “careful review” and transparency, which are lacking in the CDD’s decision.
“When longstanding recommendations are altered without a robust, evidence-based process, it undermines public trust and puts children at unnecessary risk of preventable disease.”
Sandra Adamson Fryhofer
Sean O’Leary, Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said that the changes were made by political appointees, without any evidence that the current recommendations were harming children.
“It’s so important that any decision about the US childhood vaccination schedule should be grounded in evidence, transparency and established scientific processes, not comparisons that overlook critical differences between countries or health systems.”
Sean O’Leary
Kennedy, the US Health Secretary, is a longtime vaccine sceptic.
In May, Kennedy announced that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, a move immediately questioned by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.
In June, Kennedy fired an entire 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee, later installing several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine sceptics.
In August, he announced that the US is to cut funding for mRNA vaccine development, a move health experts say is “dangerous” and could make the US much more vulnerable to future outbreaks of respiratory viruses like COVID-19.
Kennedy in November also personally directed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism, without supplying any new evidence to support the change.
READ ALSO: Venezuelan Crude Flows Face Market Frictions, Not Simple US Shift – Energy Chamber Chair
