US says the number of recommended childhood vaccines is a blow to public health
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing the recommended number of vaccines for children to those that protect against 11 diseases instead of the previously recommended 17 diseases.
Hepatitis B vaccines are among those that will be affected by the CDC's recently announced changes to the vaccination schedule.
Alyssa Pointer for Washington Post via Getty Images
On Monday, the top US public health authority cut number of vaccines recommended for children. The move comes just weeks after President Donald Trump ordered health officials to align the country's vaccination schedule with that of “peer developed countries” and months of actions taken by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, that undermined established vaccine science.
In practice, this means that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer recommend vaccinations to protect against 17 diseases; instead, it will recommend vaccines against 11 diseases. Experts say the changes, effective immediately, will endanger children.
“This is just a continuation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s war on vaccines,” says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
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“I think he's just trying to get the public to perceive vaccines as an optional thing that you might reasonably choose not to get,” adds Offit, who used to serve on the CDC's vaccine advisory panel before Kennedy fired him earlier this year. According to STAT, this is the panel did not participate in Monday's announcement.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that all children receive vaccines for polio, measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox, Haemophilus influenzae infection type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. For high-risk groups or populations, vaccinations against dengue, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcus ACWY, meningococcus B and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV may also be recommended. For other illnesses, including rotavirus, COVID and seasonal influenza, the agency recommends people consult their doctor.
“These data support a more targeted schedule that protects children from the most serious infectious diseases while improving clarity, adherence and public confidence,” Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill said in a statement. The ad did not provide the data O'Neill referred to.
Affordable Care Act plans and federal insurance programs, including Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Children's Immunization Program, will continue to cover all vaccines recommended by the previous immunization schedule at no out-of-pocket cost, according to the statement CDC Fact Sheet.
“This [a] sweeping, unprecedented changes that are undermining decades of success with childhood vaccines, ultimately making it harder for Americans to access vaccines,” says Caitlin Jetelina, an epidemiologist who started and helps write the popular newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist. “Fewer children will be vaccinated and children will suffer because of this decision.”
“It's a completely unscientific way to do it and it's not evidence-based,” says Angie Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.
“People won't know what they should do,” she says, adding that many people may end up not getting vaccinated on time.
The CDC's refusal to make vaccines such as rotavirus or meningitis shots less routine and more a matter of “shared clinical decision making” is especially troubling for diseases that most people consider rare—a sentiment that is directly related to the success of vaccines, says Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
The United States has had “decades of success” in fighting childhood diseases, he said. The new policies threaten that legacy. “We were the gold standard in childhood disease prevention that other countries looked up to—until now.”
IN statementThe American Academy of Pediatrics condemned the move, saying it “wreaks further chaos and confusion and undermines confidence in immunization. This is not the way to make our country healthier.” The organization said it continues to support vaccination against diseases excluded by the CDC and promised to publish its own recommendations.
The decision will most likely be challenged in court.
Additional reporting by Tanya Lewis and Lauren Young.
Editor's Note (01/05/26): This article was edited after publication to include updated information. It was previously updated on January 5, 2026. This is sensational news and may be updated in the future.
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