CDC slashes vaccines recommended for all kids : Shots

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing the number of vaccines typically recommended for all children ages 17 to 11, an unprecedented change.

In the new schedule, vaccinations that were previously recommended for all children, such as rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, meningitis and seasonal influenza, are now more limited. They are only recommended for those at high risk or after consultation with a doctor (a category called “shared decision making”).

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned the safety and effectiveness of many childhood vaccines. As a result of this reform, the administration is taking a decisive step to reduce the schedule of vaccinations that are usually recommended for all children.

The update followed a presidential memorandum that directed the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to compare the list of vaccines recommended for children in the United States with the list of vaccines in “peer developed countries.” This note came out on December 5, the same day as Vaccine advisers vote to reject recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine on the day of birth.

The consultants also then heard presentations from a senior Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official on the merits of Denmark's immunization schedule, which recommends fewer vaccines than the U.S., and from an attorney specializing in vaccine litigation on the history of the childhood immunization schedule.

“President Trump has directed us to study how other developed countries protect their children and take action if they are doing better,” Kennedy said in a statement. press release about the changes. “After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood immunization schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent. This decision protects children, respects families and restores trust in public health.”

The change in schedule comes after a “comprehensive scientific assessment” comparing the U.S. policy with that of 20 other countries, according to a senior health administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. the assessment was made Martin Kulldorf, Chief Scientist, HHS Division who briefly served as chairman of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee last year, and Tracy Beth HoegActing Director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The changes were made without formal public comment or input from vaccine manufacturers, officials confirmed, bypassing the typical process in which many stakeholders, including the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, weigh the benefits and risks of any changes to the immunization schedule.

“Reversing life-saving U.S. childhood vaccination recommendations without public discussion of the potential impact on children in this country or transparent review of the data on which those changes were based is a drastic and dangerous decision,” epidemiologist Michael Osterholm of the United States said in a statement. Vaccine Integrity Project and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “This extremely irresponsible decision will sow further doubt and confusion among parents and put children’s lives at risk.”

Senior HHS officials at the briefing cited “declining coverage of routine childhood vaccinations,” including falling measles vaccination rates, as evidence of declining public confidence in vaccines. They said the changes are intended to increase public confidence in the vaccination schedule.

Because no vaccine was removed from the schedule, just its status changed, they said the vaccines will continue to be free and available to anyone who wants them, and will be covered by insurance through shared clinical decision making—if the patient (or caregiver) and their health care provider decide together that they should get it.

HHS officials also said they will begin placebo-controlled trials examining the timing of the vaccines and their long-term effects. According to them, trials have already begun at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are being initiated at the FDA and National Institutes of Health. Officials did not provide details about the cost or timing of these trials, but expected the trials would require follow-up for “many, many years” and would take “quite some time.”