Trump signs order directing CDC to align with assessment calling for fewer childhood vaccines President Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to align with a scientific assessment released earlier in the year by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that advocates for reducing the number of childhood vaccines recommended. The order mandates the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to review the HHS assessment and the latest clinical data, then take any necessary steps to update the U.S. childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule. The move follows a December memo issued by Trump instructing HHS to align U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations with "best practices from peer, developed countries." In early January, HHS released an assessment concluding that the U.S. recommends more childhood vaccines than any other peer nation and more than twice as many doses as some European countries. The report highlighted that the U.S. schedule includes vaccines for diseases such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, meningococcal ACWY, and meningococcal B, which are recommended only for high-risk children. However, the CDC retained recommendations for 11 diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Hib, pneumonia, polio, HPV, and varicella. The executive order was met with significant backlash from medical experts and health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The AAP, which criticized the HHS assessment, released its own childhood vaccine recommendations, diverging from CDC guidance. The White House defended the order, stating it reaffirms Trump’s commitment to "gold-standard science" and empowers patients and doctors with "maximum flexibility.#trump #cdc #robert_f_kennedy_jr #hhs #acip
