Public health at risk as US slashes childhood vaccine recommendations

By Sola Ogundipe

The United States has reduced the number of vaccines it recommends for all children, a move that leading medical organisations warned could undermine protection against several preventable diseases. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will now recommend routine vaccination against 11 diseases, down from the broader list that included influenza, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, certain forms of meningitis, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Those vaccines will now be advised only for children considered high risk or through “shared decision-making” with physicians. 

Administration officials said families who want the vaccines will still have access and insurance coverage will continue. The overhaul was requested by President Donald Trump in December and long supported by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said a review of 20 peer nations found the U.S. to be an “outlier” in the number of vaccines recommended for all children. Officials framed the change as a way to build public trust by focusing on what they described as the most essential immunisations. 

“This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,” Kennedy said in a statement. Trump, writing on his Truth Social platform, called the new schedule “far more reasonable” and said it aligns the U.S. with other developed nations. 

Vaccines that remain broadly recommended include those against measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, chickenpox, and human papillomavirus (HPV). The guidance also reduces HPV doses from two or three shots depending on age to one for most children. 

Medical experts criticised the changes, saying they were made without public discussion or transparent review.

“Abandoning recommendations for vaccines that prevent influenza, hepatitis and rotavirus, and changing the recommendation for HPV without a public process to weigh the risks and benefits, will lead to more hospitalisations and preventable deaths among American children,” said Michael Osterholm of the Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota. 

Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics said the decision ignored disease levels in the U.S. population. “You can’t just copy and paste public health and that’s what they seem to be doing here,” he said. 

The American Medical Association also raised concerns. “Changes of this magnitude require careful review, expert and public input, and clear scientific justification.

That level of rigor and transparency was not part of this decision,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer. 

The pediatricians’ group has issued its own vaccine schedule, continuing to recommend shots that the administration removed. O’Leary singled out the flu vaccine, noting that 280 children died from influenza last winter, the highest toll since 2009. 

Senior HHS officials, speaking anonymously, said the new recommendations were developed by political appointees and not reviewed by the CDC’s advisory committee. Scientists at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases were asked to present international comparisons but were not permitted to make recommendations. 

The decision comes as U.S. vaccination rates have declined and exemptions have reached record levels, while measles and whooping cough cases are rising. France currently recommends vaccination against 14 diseases, compared to the 11 now on the U.S. list. 

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has previously directed the CDC to drop recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, dismissed the agency’s advisory committee, and ordered changes to its position on vaccines and autism without new evidence. 

This version strips away analysis and presents the developments, statements, and reactions in a straightforward news format. Would you like me to also **condense this into a wire-style brief** (around 300 words) for quick publication?

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