Robert F. Kennedy’s agency overhauls childhood vaccine schedule

U.S health officials announced Monday that they would dramatically reduce the number of vaccinations recommended for babies and children, a decision that officials say they made after reviewing the childhood vaccine schedules of other developed countries. The Trump administration announced it was reducing the number of shots routinely offered to children from 17 to 11, a move that had been long signaled by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. It means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer broadly recommend children receive vaccines for rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and hepatitis A and B.  The CDC cannot mandate state policies on childhood vaccines, but its recommendations carry great weight with local health officials. The CDC said it will recommend that the flu, Covid-19 and rotavirus shots only be administered to children and babies after shared clinical decision-making, which means consulting with a doctor before receiving them.  Other vaccines, including for meningococcal, hepatitis A and B and RSV vaccines, will be recommended only for children and babies in high-risk groups. The polio, chicken pox and MMR vaccines, among others, will remain widely recommended, according to the new vaccine schedule. Dr. Carlos del Rio, chair of the Department of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, said in an email that the changes to the schedule are “not unreasonable.” But he expressed concern that officials narrowed the recommendations for the hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus and Meningococcal vaccines, since “all these are very effective…

Continue reading →