The United States on Monday took the unprecedented step of eliminating the number of vaccines recommended for each child, reducing protection against six diseases, a move that was slammed by American pediatricians.
The changes, effective immediately, mean the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend vaccines for 11 diseases. No longer widely recommended is targetinginfluenzarotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis, or RSV. Instead, protective measures against these diseases are only recommended for certain groups deemed to be at high risk, or if their doctors recommend them in so-called “shared decision-making.”
Trump administration officials said changes long sought by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would not result in families who want the vaccine losing access to it, and said insurance would continue to cover the cost. But medical experts say the move adds to confusion among parents and could increase the incidence of preventable diseases.
The change comes after Donald Trump was elected president in December.U.S. Department of Health asksand the Department of Human Services review how peer states handle vaccine recommendations and consider revising their guidance to align with theirs.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the U.S. is an “outlier” compared with 20 peer countries in terms of the number of vaccines administered and the doses recommended for all children. Agency officials saw the change as a way to increase public trust by recommending only the most important vaccines for children.
The list of diseases recommended for everyone includes measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, chickenpox and HPV.
“This decision protects children, respects families and rebuilds trust in public health,” Kennedy said in a statement Monday.
Medical experts disagree, saying changes made without public discussion or a transparent review of data would put children at risk.
Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics said countries carefully consider vaccine recommendations based on disease levels in their populations and health systems.
“You can’t just copy and paste public health, and that’s what they’re doing here,” O’Leary said. “In effect, children’s health and lives are at risk.”
The new guidelines also reduce the recommended dose of human papillomavirus vaccine for most children from two or three shots to one, depending on age.
Senior officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the decision was made without input from the advisory committee that is typically consulted on vaccine timelines. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the changes publicly.
“Abandoning recommendations to prevent influenza, hepatitis and rotavirus, and changing recommendations for HPV without a public process to weigh risks and benefits, will result in more hospitalizations and preventable deaths among American children,” said Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota’s Vaccine Integrity Project.
This story was originally published on wealth network