REALIGNING THE CHILDHOOD VACCINE SCHEDULE WITH INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES: President Donald J. Trump has signed an Executive Order recognizing a recent scientific assessment by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on childhood vaccines. This assessment aims to bring U.S. childhood vaccine protocols in line with scientific evidence and best practices from other developed nations.
- The Executive Order mandates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to evaluate the HHS scientific assessment. This evaluation includes best practices from other developed countries for core childhood vaccines recommended for all children and seeks to update the U.S. childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule accordingly.
- ACIP is tasked with exploring ways to offer maximum flexibility to parents and healthcare providers regarding the timing and sequence of routine immunizations.
- All executive departments and agencies are required to ensure that their actions, regulations, funding, and coverage related to child and adolescent immunizations are fully aligned with the updated schedule recommended by ACIP, as adopted by the CDC. This is to ensure that Americans continue to have full access to vaccines.
- The Order also instructs HHS to inform state governments and health officials about federal policies on child and adolescent immunizations. The scientific assessment should be made available as a resource to guide state vaccination laws.
ENSURING AMERICANS ARE RECEIVING THE BEST MEDICAL ADVICE IN THE WORLD: The HHS scientific assessment compared U.S. childhood immunization practices with those of peer nations, analyzing vaccine uptake, public trust, clinical and epidemiological evidence, and vaccine mandates.
- The assessment revealed that the U.S. recommends more childhood vaccines than any peer nation, often more than twice as many doses as some European countries. It identified a set of consensus vaccines consistently recommended in peer countries.
- In 1980, American children following the CDC immunization schedule received 23 vaccine doses in 7 shots against 7 diseases. By 2024, this had increased to at least 84 doses in 57 shots for 17 diseases, plus the RSV monoclonal antibody immunization for a total of 18 diseases, exceeding numbers in other developed nations.
- The assessment recommends focusing on 11 routine childhood vaccines while allowing flexibility for parents and doctors to make individualized decisions for higher-risk children through shared clinical decision-making.
- The assessment also found that most peer nations maintain high childhood vaccination rates through public trust and education, rather than mandates.
- The U.S. is one of the few peer nations with childhood vaccine mandates, enacted by individual states, for school entry.
- By signing this Executive Order, President Trump reaffirms his commitment to gold-standard science, ensuring Americans receive optimal medical advice and empowering patients and doctors with greater flexibility.
MAKING OUR CHILDREN HEALTHY AGAIN: President Trump is dedicated to fostering a healthier future for America, beginning with its youngest citizens.
- In February, President Trump established the President’s MAHA Commission through an Executive Order, charging it with investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s growing health crisis, initially focusing on childhood chronic diseases.
- The Trump Administration revised the blanket recommendation for all children to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, opting instead for shared clinical decision-making between patients and clinicians.
- In May, the MAHA Commission published the Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment, outlining what is known and what questions remain about the childhood chronic disease crisis.
- In September, the MAHA Commission released the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, a comprehensive plan with over 120 initiatives aimed at reversing failed policies contributing to America’s childhood chronic disease epidemic. This strategy emphasized developing a vaccine framework to ensure the best childhood vaccine schedule.
- In December, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to initiate the process of aligning U.S. core childhood vaccine recommendations with best practices from other developed countries.
