United States slashes overloaded childhood vaccine schedule
Aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with peer nations by reducing routine recommendations, the Trump administration is expanding shared decision-making and committing to research aimed at restoring public trust.
The Trump administration has begun to rein in America's notoriously aggressive childhood vaccination schedule.
Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill signed a decision memorandum on January 5, accepting recommendations to align U.S. practices with those of peer-developed nations — dramatically reducing the number of routinely recommended vaccines for all children from 17 to just 11.
Today, I updated the United States childhood and adolescent immunization schedule to recommend routine vaccination for all children against 11 diseases.
— Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill (@HHS_Jim) January 6, 2026
Last month, President Trump asked me to review the immunization schedules of other developed nations and consider their best… pic.twitter.com/zwRLEIYC7u
This overhaul follows a December 2025 directive from President Trump, tasking HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the CDC to scrutinize why the U.S. stands as a global outlier that pushes more doses than any other developed country — often twice as many as nations like Denmark — without superior health outcomes or higher uptake rates.
"President Trump directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better," Kennedy stated. "After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent. This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health."
President Trump directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better. After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening… https://t.co/CzRN5z8oLf
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) January 6, 2026
The updated schedule maintains universal recommendations for core vaccines, such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV (now down to one dose, following peer nations' evidence), and varicella (chickenpox).
Other shots, such as rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, meningococcal, RSV, influenza, and COVID-19, are now reserved for high-risk groups or shared decision-making between parents and doctors.
While this is a step forward for informed consent and evidence-based decision-making, all previously recommended vaccines remain universally covered for families who choose them.
The review also highlighted plummeting public trust in institutions — dropping from 72% in 2020 to 40% by 2024, noting that this coincided with “public health failure during the pandemic, including COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
The press release calls for large, placebo-controlled randomized trials of individual vaccines, combinations, and schedules, alongside observational studies, to better inform patients, parents, and providers and help restore trust in public health, with HHS committing to gold-standard research to fill remaining knowledge gaps on risk-benefit profiles.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary noted, "Public health works only when people trust it."
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COMMENTS
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Fran G commented 2026-01-07 14:01:42 -0500I am sooooo happy. This is a large step in the right direction. I love they have deleted some of them, especially c0vid and hep b. I dont believe in ANY vaccines, if you take the time to look into the true history of vaccines you will come to think the same way. -
Bruce Atchison commented 2026-01-06 19:50:12 -0500Big pharma won’t like this. Too bad for them. People are over-medicated as it is.
