Trump order backs plan to cut childhood vaccine recommendations by half

Donald Trump officially issued an executive order on Friday that could have a significant impact on the health of US children. The order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to align with a plan to cut recommended childhood vaccines by half.

The major assessment collaborated by the Dr Tracy Beth Hoeg that the CDC director should review the childhood immunization schedule “ to keep vaccines for 10 diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, and human papillomavirus.

Vaccines for these specific diseases are as follows:

1. Meningitis
2. Rotavirus
3. Hepatitis A
4. Hepatitis B
5. Influenza
6. Covid-19

The assessment further recommended reducing the number of doses of the human papillomavirus doses to one. The order directs the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to analyze the HHS assessment and clinical data relating to childhood and adolescent immunization timetables.

In this regard, White House said: “It is the policy of the United States that the core childhood vaccine schedule should be aligned with scientific evidence and best practices from peer- developed countries while preserving access to vaccines currently available to Americans.”

Keeping in view the current amendments, fifteen states with Democratic governors are taking legal action against the HHS and Robert F Kennedy Jr over the intended changes to the federal vaccine recommendations.

They argued that “ vaccines of their universally recommended status in favor of senseless complexity and equivocation that will make children sucker and strain state resources.”

Dr William Schaffner, a professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a former member of ACIP said: “There seems to be little scientific basis for altering the recommendations that have gone through,”

“If we do not progressively vaccinate children from certain diseases, sooner or later we will see the resurgence of these diseases, just as we are seeing with recent outbreaks of measles,” Schaffner added. “The consequences of that will be more sick children, more visits to the doctor and more hospitalizations.”

The lawsuit filed by others states also found that the health department assessment attempts are aligning with the US vaccine schedule with peer countries that oversaw Denmark as a model.