HHS Prunes Childhood Vaccine Schedule From 18 Shots To 11
Health authorities, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say it's a huge mistake.
On Monday, HHS Deputy Secretary and acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jim O’Neill signed a memo ordering the CDC to change its childhood vaccine recommendations, effective immediately. The new recommendations have recategorized shots for rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, and influenza as shots requiring “shared clinical decision-making.”
The CDC maintains that children should be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, chickenpox, and human papillomavirus, or HPV. However, the announcement states that one dose of the HPV vaccine has been shown to be effective in other countries, and so a second dose will no longer be recommended for American children. This change brings the recommended number of childhood vaccines from 18 in 2024 (which the American Academy of Pediatrics still advises) to 11.
The change comes after President Donald Trump ordered HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to assess America’s childhood vaccine schedule in comparison to other developed nations’, with Denmark coming up most often as the model to aspire to.
The CDC shifted both hepatitis B and Covid-19 vaccines to a shared clinical decision-making model last year, emphasizing that these shots shouldn’t be recommended for everyone, but rather based on an individual’s preferences and needs. Health experts have argued this model ignores public health, and that vaccinations help reduce spread of preventable illnesses on a population level when more individuals get their shots.
In a press release, AAP president Dr. Andrew D. Racine said these changes to the childhood vaccine schedule were made arbitrarily, calling the alterations dangerous and unnecessary.
“For decades, leading health experts, immunologists, and pediatricians have carefully reviewed new data and evidence as part of the immunization recommendation process, helping to keep newborns, infants, and children protected from diseases they could be exposed to in the United States as they develop and grow. Today’s decision, which was based on a brief review of other countries’ practices, upends this deliberate scientific process,” he wrote.
The American College of Emergency Physicians and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) both condemned the decision to alter the vaccine schedule in statements as well.
While RFK Jr. has touted this new vaccination schedule as superior, modeled after Denmark’s childhood vaccine regimen, Racine emphasizes that Denmark and America are two vastly different countries. Hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu, and meningococcal disease all have “known impacts on American’s children,” he said, and our nation has a very different (read: not universal) healthcare infrastructure.
In a country where not everyone can access care when they’re ill, preventing serious illness is crucial, experts say.
“Disease prevalence differs country to country, and there has been demonstrated and ongoing need in the U.S. for the vaccines included in the childhood vaccine schedule. Most other high-income countries have universal health care and parental leave, both of which can support prevention and early care and contribute to lower disease prevalence,” said Dr. Ronald G. Nahass, president of IDSA.
The AAP published their own recommended childhood vaccine schedule in 2025 amid the Trump administration’s constant and confusing changes to vaccine recommendations. In July of last year, the AAP filed suit against HHS for “acting arbitrarily and capriciously” in changing pediatric Covid vaccine recommendations. In December, RFK Jr.’s HHS pulled all grant funding from the AAP, saying the organization’s priorities do not align with the Trump administration’s.
Ultimately, this is one more change to vaccines in America that experts agree will sow confusion and distrust, and lead to an increase in preventable illnesses and deaths in our nation’s children.
Parents who want vaccines for their children should consult the AAP’s recommended childhood vaccine schedule and talk to their child’s pediatrician for more information. The CDC says insurance companies will still be required to cover all shots, including those they want you to access after shared clinical decision-making, so you should still be able to get them covered.
