The administration of President Donald Trump announced last Monday a broad update to the childhood vaccination schedule in the United States, putting an end to the universal recommendation of several immunizations and opting for an approach based on individual risk assessment and shared decision-making between parents and doctors.
The measure, driven by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is presented by the White House as an effort to modernize health policy and align it with the practices of other developed countries.
According to the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), authorities will no longer automatically recommend that all children receive vaccines against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Instead, these immunizations will move to a "shared clinical decision-making" framework, in which families will evaluate together with health professionals the benefits and risks according to each child's particular situation. Authorities clarified that all vaccines will remain available and covered by health insurance.
President Trump described the announcement as a "common-sense" reform and stated that the new schedule is "based on the gold standard of science".
In a message released on his Truth Social network, he stated that the United States will stop requiring up to 72 applications during childhood and will focus on recommending vaccines against 11 of the most serious and dangerous diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcus, chickenpox, and human papillomavirus (HPV).
Trump emphasized that parents retain full freedom to opt for a broader schedule if they wish and highlighted that insurance coverage will not be affected.
"This update finally brings the United States in line with other developed nations", wrote the president, while he thanked the support of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which has advocated for years for reducing the childhood vaccination burden.
