The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have announced a major overhaul of the U.S. childhood immunization schedule that should make many in the Make America Healthy Again movement happy.
The U.S. has formally taken the unprecedented step Monday of reducing the number of vaccines it recommends for every child in a major overhaul of the childhood immunization schedule.The change came after President Donald Trump in December asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising its guidance to align with theirs.The new schedule, which takes effect immediately, aligns the U.S. vaccine recommendations more closely with Denmark’s.Under the new guidelines, children should receive vaccinations for 11 diseases, down from 17 previously on the schedule. Instead of universal recommendations for almost all children in certain age groups, vaccines are split into categories, including for all children, certain high-risk groups, and vaccines shared on a clinical decision-making basis.
The schedule still includes the “classics”. However, it no longer recommends universal shots for others; instead, it recommends more recent vaccine offerings.
Health officials will continue to recommend the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines and immunizations against polio, chickenpox, HPV and others, but they are narrowing recommendations for vaccination against meningococcal disease, hepatitis B and hepatitis A to children who are broadly at higher risk for infections.They recommend that decisions on vaccinations against flu, Covid-19 and rotavirus be based on “shared clinical decision-making,” which means people who want one must consult with a health care provider.HHS said that its recommendations for immunizations against respiratory synctytial virus, or RSV, remain unchanged and that infants born to mothers who did not receive the vaccine should have one dose.
Arguments for the move include that it will foster more public trust in the vaccines, which have suffered because of the inept handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated COVID-19 mandate.
HHS in a statement said that reducing the number of recommended vaccines would help restore public trust in health agencies — and possibly confidence in vaccines themselves. The agency reasoned that despite recommending more shots, the US does not have higher vaccination rates than peer countries that rely on “education rather than mandates.”The government’s vaccine outreach and messaging has been vastly reshaped under Kennedy, who has questioned vaccine safety for decades.
The HHS scoured the list of previously recommended vaccines and selected those deemed most beneficial.
HHS said its comparison to 20 peer nations found that the U.S. was an “outlier” in both the number of vaccinations and the number of doses it recommended to all children. Officials with the agency framed the change as a way to increase public trust by recommending only the most important vaccinations for children to receive.
This seems like a good move, giving parents a chance to make informed decisions. The plan also includes insurance coverage for all vaccines, whether they are the 11 recommended vaccines or those in other categories.
The updated recommendations feature a 3-tiered approach and will include immunization recommendations for all children, those recommended for particular high-risk groups or populations, and those based on what the organization is calling “shared clinical decision-making.”According to a press release from the CDC, all recommendations from the CDC as of December 31, 2025, “will continue to be fully covered by Affordable Care Act insurance plans and federal insurance programs, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Vaccines for Children program. Families will not have to purchase them out of pocket.”
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