The President of the United States (U.S.), Donald Trump, has approved an Order urging the States of this country to immunize children against 11 diseases, seven fewer than those recommended by their Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This legal text offers “highest-level recommendations in childhood vaccination,” according to the U.S. Government, which added that these “maximize parents’ options regarding vaccination for their children and align three categories of childhood immunizations with scientific evidence and best practices from similar developed countries.”
Thus, highlighting the aforementioned reduction in vaccines compared to what is advised by the CDC, the Trump Administration has stated that vaccines no longer recommended for all children are now advised for shared clinical decision-making, “ensuring that parents have all options available.”
Specifically, the vaccines recommended for all children are those indicated for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), and chickenpox. Meanwhile, immunizations advised for certain groups or high-risk populations correspond to monoclonal antibodies against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcus B, meningococcus ACWY, and dengue.
Conversely, in the general pediatric population, vaccines based on shared clinical decision-making will be those for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, flu, and Covid-19. Additionally, it is recommended to split the combined vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella into three individual doses for each disease, and to administer all compounds in separate medical visits to provide more options regarding the timing and frequency of this vaccine’s administration.
Furthermore, this text states that, with the introduced changes, “parents’ freedom of choice in childhood vaccines is maximized by promoting States’ compliance with constitutional and federal legislation related to parental authority, religious freedom, accommodations for people with disabilities, and equal protection under the law, including States’ obligations to provide religious and medical exemptions from the childhood and adolescent vaccination requirement.”
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However, it also includes the obligation to submit plans to Trump “to improve vaccine research and options for American parents, including ongoing assessment of the risk and benefit profiles of all childhood vaccines based on U.S. and international data.”
Regarding the reasons that led to this modification in the vaccination plan, it was stated that “the scientific assessment concluded that the U.S. currently recommends more childhood vaccines than any other comparable country, including more than double the doses of some European countries.” Additionally, “a set of consensus vaccines recommended systematically in all comparable countries” has been identified.
In this regard, data show that in 1980, children following the CDC vaccination schedule received 23 vaccine doses in seven injections against seven different diseases; whereas in 2024, the recommended number of routine vaccines had increased to at least 84 doses in at least 57 injections for 17 diseases, plus the monoclonal vaccine against RSV for a total of 18 pathologies.
However, for the Trump Administration, the now recommended reduction reaffirms the commitment “to the highest quality science, ensuring that Americans receive the best possible medical advice and providing patients and doctors with maximum flexibility.”
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