CDC cuts universal child vaccine recommendations, including covid and hepatitis
An overhaul of U.S. childhood immunization guidelines reduced the number of vaccines recommended by the CDC from 17 to 11.
The new list of recommended vaccines, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, includes polio and measles, but others, like the hepatitis A and B vaccines, and Covid, are recommended based on risk and “shared clinical decision-making” between doctors and parents, the announcement said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics criticized the new recommendation, calling the new rules “dangerous and unnecessary.”
The overhaul is the latest sweeping policy change made under the Trump administration by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy said the overhaul came “after an exhaustive review” and “protects children, respects families and restores trust in public health.”
“We are aligning the U.S. childhood immunization schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent,” he added.
According to the CDC, the new recommendation for all children will include vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), and varicella (chickenpox). The first three are routinely administered as a single vaccine.
A second category of vaccines has been recommended for children based on risk factors. These include vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue fever, as well as meningococcus ACWY and meningococcus B, which protect against meningitis.
The third group of vaccines against Covid-19, flu and rotavirus was left to the choice of parents and doctors.
For now, insurance will continue to cover vaccines still recommended at the end of 2025.
The CDC compared existing recommendations for children with those of 20 developed countries and found that the United States was “a global outlier” in terms of the number of diseases covered and the number of doses, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
Monday’s announcement comes weeks after a CDC panel made a new recommendation on when children should receive the first hepatitis B vaccine. Previously, a first dose was recommended for babies within 24 hours of birth, but revised guidelines last December moved it to two months after birth if the mother was hepatitis B negative.
This recommendation has been heavily criticized by pediatricians, with the American Academy of Pediatrics describing it as “a dangerous move that will harm children.”
