At the time President Donald Trump took office last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was recommending that all American children get vaccines for 18 diseases, loading kids up with more than twice as many doses as their European counterparts were receiving.
As the result of an overhaul of the schedule announced on Monday, the agency is now recommending universal childhood vaccinations for only 11 diseases.
'America will no longer require 72 "jabs" for our beautiful, healthy children.'
Trump issued a presidential memorandum last month directing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jim O'Neill, the acting CDC director, to "review best practices from peer, developed countries for core childhood vaccination recommendations — vaccines recommended for all children — and the scientific evidence that informs those best practices."
In the event that they found that foreign practices were superior to current domestic recommendations, Trump tasked Kennedy and O'Neill with updating the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule accordingly.
O'Neill discussed childhood vaccine recommendations and policy with health officials from various first-world nations as well as with vaccine safety experts at the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
He also reviewed a comprehensive scientific assessment that not only compared American vaccine recommendations with dozens of other first-world nations but "analyzed vaccine uptake and public trust, evaluated clinical and epidemiological evidence and knowledge gaps, examined vaccine mandates, and identified next steps."
The CDC indicated that the assessment "found that the U.S. is a global outlier among developed nations in both the number of diseases addressed in its routine childhood vaccination schedule and the total number of recommended doses but does not have higher vaccination rates than such countries."
O'Neill ultimately approved a corresponding decision memo from the agency heads of the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, recommending immunization for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilius influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and chickenpox for all children.
While the core schedule now recommends only these 11 — just one more than is recommended in Denmark — the CDC recommends on an individual basis: RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWAY, and dengue vaccines for "high-risk groups" and hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza, and COVID-19 vaccines.
The overhaul has evidently vexed elements of the medical establishment who oversaw the precipitous decline in trust in U.S. public health.
'This decision protects children.'
"Today’s announcement that HHS is drastically altering the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule without a transparent process or clear scientific justification represents the latest reckless step in Secretary Kennedy’s assault on the national vaccine infrastructure that has saved millions of lives. His actions put families and communities at risk and will make America sicker," Ronald Nahass, the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement.
Ofer Levy, director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children's Hospital, likewise questioned the transparency of the process, suggesting "not all of this was really hashed out in a discussion that was available for the public to listen to and participate in."
O'Neill noted that these changes are part of a broader effort to regain the trust of the American people.
"One of the consequences was parents declining recommended vaccines for their children," stated O'Neill. "Parents who think that more than 80 doses per child is too many may now consider giving their children the 10 vaccines in the international consensus of 20 nations, plus the varicella vaccine."
Kennedy thanked O'Neill for his "leadership and bravery" and noted that "this decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health."
"This Schedule is rooted in the Gold Standard of Science, and widely agreed upon by Scientists and Experts all over the World," Trump stated on Truth Social.
"Effective today, America will no longer require 72 'jabs' for our beautiful, healthy children," continued the president. "We are moving to a far more reasonable Schedule, where all children will only be recommended to receive Vaccinations for 11 of the most serious and dangerous diseases."
Trump and federal health officials emphasized both that parents can continue to give their children the vaccinations dropped from the schedule and that insurance will continue to cover them.
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