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January 5, 2026<\/p>\n
3 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n U.S. Axes Number of Recommended Childhood Vaccines in Blow to Public Health<\/p>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing the recommended number of vaccines for children to those that protect against 11 diseases instead of the protections against 17 illnesses that it recommended previously<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Tanya Lewis, Clara Moskowitz & Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Hepatitis B vaccines are among those affected by newly announced vaccine schedule changes at the CDC.<\/p>\n Alyssa Pointer for the Washington Post via Getty Images<\/p>\n The top public health body in the U.S. on Monday slashed the number of vaccines recommended for children. The move came just weeks after President Donald Trump ordered health officials to align the country\u2019s vaccine schedule with those of \u201cpeer, developed countries\u201d and months of actions driven by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a long-time vaccine skeptic, that have undermined established vaccine science.<\/p>\n In practice, it means the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer recommend shots to protect against 17 diseases, but 11. Experts say the changes, which are effective immediately, will endanger children.<\/p>\n “This is just a continuation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s war against vaccines,\u201d Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center and a professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he’s just trying to make it so that the public perceives vaccines as optional, as something that you could reasonably choose not to get,\u201d Offit, who used to sit on a CDC vaccine advisory panel before being fired by Kennedy earlier this year, adds. According to STAT, that panel wasn\u2019t involved in Monday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n The CDC now recommends that all children receive vaccines for polio, measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, HPV, diptheria and pertussis. High-risk groups may also be recommended shots for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal ACWY, meningococcal B, and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. For other diseases, including rotavirus, COVID-19 and the seasonal flu, the agency suggests people talk to their doctor.<\/p>\n “This is [a] massive, unprecedented change that blows up decades of success with childhood vaccines, ultimately making it harder for Americans to access vaccines,” says Katelina Jetelina, an epidemiologist who started and helps write the popular newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.” \u201cFewer children will be vaccinated and children will be harmed because of this decision,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a completely unscientific way of doing this, and it’s not evidence based,\u201d says Angie Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople aren’t going to know what they’re supposed to do,\u201d she says, adding that many people could end up not getting their shots on time.<\/p>\n The CDC\u2019s shift from making vaccines like the rotavirus or meningitis shot no longer routine but a matter of \u201cshared clinical decision making\u201d is especially worrisome in the case of diseases that most people see as rare\u2014a sense that stems directly from the success of the vaccines, Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, says.<\/p>\n The U.S. has had \u201cdecades of success\u201d in combating childhood disease, he says. The new policies threaten that legacy. \u201cWe had been the gold standard for the prevention of childhood diseases that other countries looked up to\u2014until now.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Academy of Pediatrics denounced the move, stating that it will \u201csow further chaos and confusion and erode confidence in immunizations. This is no way to make our country healthier.\u201d The organization said in the same statement that it continues to support vaccination against the diseases dropped by the CDC and pledged to publish its own recommendations.<\/p>\n The decision is likely to be challenged in court.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Tanya Lewis and Lauren Young.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note (1\/5\/26): This article was edited after posting to include updated information. This is a breaking news story and may be updated further.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 5, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm U.S. Axes Number of Recommended Childhood Vaccines in Blow to Public Health The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing the recommended number of vaccines for children to those that protect against 11 diseases instead of the protections against 17 illnesses that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[21722,4045,6768,37,2189,177,80,811,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-40407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-axes","9":"tag-blow","10":"tag-childhood","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-number","13":"tag-public","14":"tag-recommended","15":"tag-u-s","16":"tag-vaccines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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