President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to align policies with a Health and Human Services study that recommends limiting several childhood vaccines to high-risk children or doctor-guided decisions.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday directing federal agencies to align their vaccine policies with a Department of Health and Human Services study that calls for reducing the number of vaccines routinely recommended for all American children.
The January HHS study recommended a major revision to the childhood vaccine schedule, a change long supported by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The report found that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than many comparable countries.
Trump’s order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the study and “take any appropriate steps” to revise vaccine recommendations. It also instructs the CDC to “provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors” and tells federal agencies to ensure that their rules, funding decisions and other actions are consistent with the study.
The order states that any changes should preserve Americans’ current access to vaccines.
The HHS study recommends that all children receive vaccines against 11 diseases. Other vaccines would no longer be recommended universally and would instead be advised for high-risk children or through “shared decision-making” between doctors and families. That category includes vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, certain forms of meningitis and RSV.
The Trump administration had already moved to narrow the number of recommended childhood vaccines after the report was issued, but a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that action. The administration is appealing the decision.
States, rather than the federal government, decide which vaccines are required for school attendance. Federal CDC recommendations often influence state rules, though some states have begun forming their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s vaccine guidance.
Trump directed HHS to conduct the study in December.
Kennedy previously announced that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, a decision questioned by public health experts who said no new data had been presented to justify the change.
Last June, Kennedy dismissed a 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee and later appointed several replacements of his own.
The January report said vaccine recommendations for American children have increased over recent decades. It also pointed to countries where no vaccines are required for school attendance.