Why Has the US Reduced Childhood Vaccine Recommendations? Doctors Warn of Serious Public Health Risks

The US Department of Health and Human Services has recommended fewer vaccines for most American children, health officials have revealed. The recommendations for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines and immunisations against polio, chickenpox, HPV, and others will continue, but shots against meningococcal disease, hepatitis B, and hepatitis A for children who are broadly at higher risk for infections will now be narrowed. They recommend that decisions on vaccinations against flu, COVID-19, and rotavirus be based on “shared clinical decision-making”, which means people who want one must consult with a doctor. According to the HHS, suggestions for immunisations against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, remain unchanged, and infants born to mothers

who did not receive the vaccine should have one dose.Read more:Full List Of Vaccines Now Recommended For Children By CDC's New Vaccine Schedule

Why have the recommendations reduced?

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned the safety and effectiveness of many childhood vaccines. With this overhaul, the administration is taking a dramatic step to pare down the schedule of immunisations routinely recommended for all children. The revamp follows a memorandum from the President that directed the HHS and the CDC to compare the list of vaccines that are recommended for American children as compared to those in "peer, developed countries. " That memo, which came out on December 5, was on the same day as the vaccine advisers had voted to drop the recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine on the day of birth. However, the changes come even as the country is facing a sharp uptick in flu cases. The CDC has already reported nine pediatric deaths from flu this season. HHS said that all insurers will still cover these vaccines without cost-sharing. However, the changes could present new hurdles for parents who need to consult with doctors about immunisations no longer recommended for healthy children. Officials have also confirmed that the changes were made without formal public comment or input from vaccine makers, circumventing the typical process in which many stakeholders, including the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, weigh in on the benefits and risks of any changes to the vaccine schedule. Many scientists have called the move “radical and dangerous”. "Eliminating vital US childhood vaccine recommendations without public discussion of the potential impacts on children in this country, or a transparent review of the data on which the changes were based, is a radical and dangerous decision,” said a statement by epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, of the Vaccine Integrity Project and director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “This wildly irresponsible decision will sow further doubt and confusion among parents and put children's lives at risk,” he added. However, according to the HHS, vaccines have not been taken off the schedule but only shifted in status. They said the vaccines would still be free and available to anybody who wants them, covered by insurance through the process of shared clinical decision-making — if a patient and their doctor decide together they should get it.