The U.S. is dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child, while leaving other immunizations open to families to make a choice on.
The updated schedule will include 10 vaccinations in contrast to the CDC child and adolescent schedule at the end of 2024, which recommended 17 immunizations for all children.
Officials say the overhaul won’t result in families losing access to or insurance coverage for vaccines.
The change came after President Trump requested the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising it to align with theirs.
According to HHS, a comparison of 20 peer nations found the U.S. to be an oulier in the number of vaccines and recommended doses to all children and framed the change as a way to win public trust by recommending only the most important.
Some medical experts and vaccine advocates of vaccines said the change without public discussion or a transparent review of the data will put children at risk and lead to more hospitalizations and deaths.
The CDC said it will continue to recommend that all children get vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, HPV and chickenpox, for which there international consensus.
For other diseases, the CDC will recommend immunization for high-risk groups and populations, or through shared clinical decision making.
Vaccines recommended for high-risk groups are shots for RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue and two types of bacterial meningitis. The vaccines recommended based on shared clinical decision-making are for rotavirus, the flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and bacterial meningitis. The Covid vaccine was moved to shared decision-making last year.
The CDC childhood vaccine schedule is a set of recommendations on the timing of vaccinations – not a mandate. It is used to guide what vaccines are covered by insurance and are needed to attend daycare and public schools. States determine which vaccines are required for school attendance and have historically relied on the CDC schedule.
In practice, not much will change for parents who want their children to continue to get all of the vaccines previously recommended. Insurance will continue to cover the shots. But the new schedule offers parents who don’t want all the vaccines options, including not getting them.