CDC Downgrades Childhood Immunization Schedule Amid Deadly Flu Surge

During his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., “promised” that if he got the job he would set aside his strong anti-vaccine views and leave the department’s long-established childhood and adolescent vaccine schedules alone.

It only took five months for him to break that promise.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of Kennedy’s HHS portfolio, announced changes to the schedule, upending a regimen established over decades — and built on strong scientific evidence.  

The medical and public health community wasn’t exactly surprised; even during his hearings, Kennedy hinted that his longtime anti-vaccine stance would gain traction if he took charge of the agency.  

The CDC announcement declared that six vaccines experts say are critical in protecting young people from serious, potentially deadly childhood diseases are no longer “recommended” for children and adolescents. The move increased confusion and disgust — especially since the flu shot is listed in the bunch. 

Several areas of the country are reporting a surge in influenza cases that has hospitalized children and even killed several of them. 

A Reduced Number of Vaccines Recommended for All Children

“The decision to downgrade the pediatric influenza recommendation was made amidst a seasonal flu spike that is the worst in 25 years and has already killed at least nine children,” according to a statement from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. During last year’s flu season, 289 U.S. children died from the illness — the highest total in more than a decade, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

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Developed over decades, the previous vaccination schedule had been in place since 1995. It was created with extensive input from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics — medical professionals that had handled the issue since the 1960s. 

The main changes under Kennedy narrow official recommendations for vaccination against influenza, RSV, and COVID, as well as meningococcal disease, rotavirus, hepatitis B, and hepatitis A vaccinations for children. The AAP and other public health organizations say they are concerned that the changes aren’t based on any scientific evidence. 

“These changes were not made based on any data demonstrating a safety or efficacy concern for the former vaccine recommendations,” according to AAFA’s statement. “The changes may lead to confusion, reduced vaccination rates, and increased illness and death.” 

The agency’s new childhood immunization schedule groups age-recommended vaccines into three categories: vaccines that are recommended for all children, for “high-risk” children, or for low-risk children. The vaccines, according to the guidelines, should be considered necessary only after “shared clinical decision-making” between parents and doctors.

“Parents say they didn’t get this many shots — but that’s because science has advanced. We can vaccinate against far more diseases now,” says Dr. Michelle Taylor Baltimore’s health commissioner. A pediatrician, Taylor says vaccines “are one of the most effective tools we have” to prevent disease.

The changes announced January 5 are concerning, she says, “because the process has not been transparent and appears to rely on data from countries that are not comparable to the U.S.”

SinceAfter returning to power last January, the Trump administration made clear its goal for the United States to have a vaccine strategy similar to other wealthy countries, most notably Denmark. But experts note the countries are vastly different. 

“First of all, Denmark has a total population as a country of 6 million people and that is the population of [just] the state of Maryland,” Taylor says. Denmark, she adds, also has universal healthcare and far fewer barriers to care for its residents than the U.S.. 

Meanwhile, “the U.S. has 300 million people, no universal healthcare, and significant health disparities,” Taylor says. “Kids here congregate in schools, get sick, and bring illness home to older adults. That’s why childhood vaccination matters so much.”  

Vaccination rates have declined steadily since 2020, experts say, resulting in an ongoing surge in communicable illnesses. Last year, measles outbreaks sickened more than 2,100 people and caused several deaths in jurisdictions nationwide. As of Friday, 200 people in South Carolina have been quarantined as a measles outbreak has swept through the state.

“People haven’t seen these diseases because vaccines worked. I trained as a pediatrician and have seen pertussis,” also known as whooping cough, Taylor says. “You don’t want your child to have whooping cough. Babies can cough until they turn blue and require hospitalization just to survive.”

Roughly 9,000 U.S. children died each year from whooping cough before vaccines became widely available in the 1940s. As the current anti-vaccine movement gained traction — led in part by Kennedy, the HHS secretary — experts say the number of cases is on the rise.  There were more than six times as many cases of whooping cough in 2024 as there were in 2023.

Despite the changes, health insurance companies are still covering the cost of vaccines for now. This includes public insurance programs such as Medicaid, the Vaccines for Children program, and most private insurance companies. 

“Vaccines are still available and providers are still following evidence-based guidance from professional organizations” like the AAP, which has opposed CDC’s change, and others, Taylor says. But she stresses the importance of using standard disease precautions, like hand washing. 

“Wash your hands. Stay home when sick,” Taylor says. “Keep sick children home. These steps protect families and communities.”

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