President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed a January study from the Department of Health and Human Services that calls for reducing the number of vaccines recommended for every American child, according to an executive order directing federal agencies to align their policies behind the findings.
The study, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long pushed for, recommends an overhaul of the current childhood vaccine schedule. It found that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than many peer nations.
Trump’s order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review it and “take any appropriate steps” to update its vaccine recommendations. The order says the agency should “provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors” and ensure all federal actions, regulations and funding are consistent with the report.
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The order also says any changes should preserve Americans’ current access to vaccines.
What the study recommends
The January report recommends vaccinating all children against 11 diseases. Several other vaccines would be recommended only for high-risk groups or under what the report calls “shared decision-making” between doctors and families.
Those include vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
The report highlighted that vaccine recommendations for American children have increased in recent decades. It also pointed to countries where no vaccines are required to attend school.
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Previous efforts blocked
The Trump administration had already moved to narrow the number of recommended childhood vaccines in response to the report, but a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that move. The administration is appealing the decision.
Trump originally directed HHS to carry out the study in December.
The new order adds weight behind the report at a time when it had appeared to shift focus away from Kennedy’s more controversial vaccine policies and toward mainstream topics like healthy eating.
Kennedy’s role and past actions
Kennedy is a longtime activist against vaccines and has sought ways to inject his skepticism into national guidance. Last year, he announced the agency would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women — a move questioned by public health experts who said no new data justified the change.
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Last June, he fired a 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee and later installed several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptics.
States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While the agency’s recommendations often influence state regulations, some states have begun forming their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.
The executive order directs agencies to make sure all actions, regulations and funding are aligned with the study. Whether the CDC will actually change its formal recommendations — and how states will respond — remains unclear.
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