Trump cuts routine childhood vaccine list

Washington: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order reducing the number of diseases for which vaccines are routinely recommended for all American children and urging states to reconsider school immunisation requirements.

The new “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” call for universal childhood immunisation against 11 diseases. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended protection against 18 diseases in 2024, according to a White House fact sheet.

The 11 diseases are measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus and chickenpox, also known as varicella.

Other immunisations would be recommended for children in designated high-risk groups or decided jointly by parents and clinicians.

The order places respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies and vaccines against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY and dengue in the high-risk category.

It lists hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza and COVID-19 under shared clinical decision-making. Hepatitis A and hepatitis B appear in both categories, depending on a child’s risk profile.

The directive also recommends replacing the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with three single-disease shots once such products become domestically available. It says childhood vaccines should, “to the maximum extent feasible”, be administered during separate medical visits.

The administration said combination vaccines would remain available. Vaccines placed under shared clinical decision-making would also continue to be accessible.

Trump directed Health and Human Services Secretary to submit plans within 90 days for offering individual vaccines, beginning with MMR. The department must also assess the timing and sequencing of core childhood vaccines and consider adjustments to the federal schedule.

The order does not itself change state laws. Individual states establish vaccination requirements for children attending schools.

It also directs the attorney general to support “meritorious legal actions” challenging state laws that conflict with federal or constitutional obligations involving parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations and equal protection.

The departments of Justice, Education and HHS were instructed to ensure that contractors and grant recipients comply with applicable requirements, including obligations to provide medical and religious exemptions where federal law requires them.

The White House said an HHS assessment completed in January found that the United States recommended more childhood vaccines than peer developed nations. It said American children following the CDC schedule received 23 doses in seven shots against seven diseases in 1980. By 2024, it said, the schedule had risen to at least 84 doses in at least 57 shots covering 17 diseases, plus RSV monoclonal antibody immunisation.

The order follows a series of administration actions under Trump’s Make America Healthy Again initiative. Trump created the MAHA Commission in February 2025, ended the blanket COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for children and directed HHS to compare the American schedule with those of other developed countries.

IANS