Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., speaks during an event on prescription drug prices in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington.Evan Vucci/AP
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Federal health officials reduced the number of vaccines recommended for all children from 17 to 11 on Monday.
According to the new schedule, some routine vaccines are now only recommended for “high-risk” children, while others, like the flu shot, can be administered through “shared clinical decision-making” that is based on individual discussions between the health care provider and the patient or guardian.
An assessment that provided the scientific basis for the decision to revise the immunization schedule states that an “increased emphasis on shared clinical decision-making would help restore trust in public health recommendations made by CDC.” It cites that from 2020 to 2024, trust in health care declined, “coinciding with school closures, other lockdowns, mandatory face masks, COVID-19 vaccination mandates with their de facto denial of infection-acquired immunity, and other public health recommendations that lacked scientific rationale.”
The Department of Health and Human Services’ announcement comes in response to a presidential order from Donald Trump last month that directed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill to update the vaccine schedule according to “peer, developed countries.” Trump’s memo said that at the beginning of 2025, the US “was a high outlier” in the number of vaccinations it recommended.
But, as STAT News reports, “some other wealthy countries, including those consulted by U.S. officials, actually have similar recommendations.”
HHS’ announcement said many of the peer nations that “recommend fewer routine vaccines achieve strong child health outcomes and maintain high vaccination rates through public trust and education rather than mandates.”
“We are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent,” Kennedy said in the announcement. “This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health.”
This change to the vaccine schedule is the culmination of months of efforts by Kennedy, who has a long record of anti-vaccine activism, to alter the way vaccines are approved and recommended. CDC recommendations were also a target in Project 2025, which states, never again should CDC officials be allowed to say in their official capacity that school children ‘should be’ masked or vaccinated (through a schedule or otherwise).”
Last month, a panel appointed by Kennedy, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, voted to end universal hepatitis B recommendations for newborns.
According to NPR, officials said that the revision was made without formal public comment or response from vaccine makers, evading the usual process in which bodies like the CDC’s ACIP evaluate changes. Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told NPR that the decision “will sow further doubt and confusion among parents and put children’s lives at risk.”
