In early January, the acting director of the CDC complied with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s demands to alter the U.S. childhood immunization schedule despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting the action. Several vaccinations that were previously recommended for all children have now been shifted to being recommended exclusively for ‘high risk’ patients or left to ‘shared clinical decision-making’. Affected vaccinations include those for RSV, Hepatitis A and B, Meningococcal (known for causing meningitis, which is cited as one of the few diseases capable of killing an otherwise healthy young adult in a matter of hours), Rotavirus, COVID-19, and Influenza.
Kennedy claims this shift aligns with vaccination schedules in other countries, such as Denmark, which only has 10 routine childhood vaccinations as opposed to the U.S.’s former 17 standard immunizations. However, this is because Denmark’s healthcare system is vastly superior and far more connected than the U.S.’s. They don’t need every child to get Hepatitis B vaccinations because they screen close to 100% of pregnant women for it and provide support to prevent transmission. In the U.S., however, 1 in 5 women aren’t tested, and only 1 in the 3 who test positive actually receive full care. Because of this, Hepatitis B immunizations are still a necessity in the states, and are the only way to deal with the disease as there is no known cure.
Many of the other vaccinations were altered for similar reasons, a judgment which carries similar flaws. The American Academy of Pediatrics continues to recommend the previous immunization schedule, a PDF of which can be found here. Federal and private insurance organizations have indicated that they will largely continue to cover the original schedule.
Experts such as Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and respected scientific communicator, warn that these changes will likely result in lower vaccination rates even with the previous schedules still being recommended by pediatricians, as parents are being led to believe that these immunizations are less necessary and therefore can be safely ignored. Historical record proves this is not the case.
This shift also comes at the same time as the CDC’s funding of a highly unethical study on possible side effects of the Hepatitis B vaccine that was to take place in the west African country of Guinea-Bissau, which has an extremely high rate of the disease. The study planned to intentionally deprive thousands of Guinea-Bissauan newborns of the immunization so they could be used as a control group against other infants in the country. Numerous health experts across the globe have called for the cancellation of the study, citing comparisons to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The outcry has prompted the suspension of the study by Guinea-Bissau’s Minister of Public Health, but as of January 22nd, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continues to assert that the study is going to proceed as planned.
