Health

NPR - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing its number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. The agency’s new schedule, which includes vaccines that had previously been recommended for all children — such as those for rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, meningitis and seasonal flu — is now more restrictive. The agency made these changes in response to a memo Trump issued in December directing health officials to align the U.S. schedule with those in "peer, developed countries" such as Germany and Japan.

 The new restrictions will lead to fewer children getting vaccinated, with consequences that could be seen for years down the line, Dr. Sean O’Leary, with the American Academy of Pediatrics, tells NPR's Pien Huang. The agency implemented these changes without any new scientific developments behind them, Huang notes. The agency sidestepped its own advisory committee and didn’t consult vaccine makers.

Axios - The slimmed-down vaccine schedule resembling Denmark's suggests that the administration is undaunted by public support for childhood vaccines — or by warnings about the return of preventable diseases.

Driving the news: The U.S. is now only recommending that all kids receive 11 vaccines, with additional shots for high-risk children. Before Trump's second inauguration, the U.S. had recommended 17 vaccines.

The CDC now says that parents should consult with physicians before inoculating their children with previously recommended shots for six diseases, including rotavirus, COVID-19 and influenza.

All vaccines previously recommended by the federal government will continue to be covered by insurers, officials said.

"We are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent," said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health."

The big picture: Such significant changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will have an impact on public health, one way or another. But they also all but ensure vaccines will be front and center in the political discourse.

Administration officials maintain the decision — announced without any new data exactly one month after Trump demanded a review of the vaccine schedule — will actually restore public trust in vaccines, by focusing on what one called "the most important diseases."

But many medical experts argue they'll have the exact opposite effect, an argument Democrats have quickly adopted as their own.

What we're watching: The vaccine schedule change is likely to prompt litigation — either in the form of direct challenges to the schedule change or new vaccine injury lawsuits testing whether the revised recommendations have loosened federal liability protections for manufacturers.  More