(Adnkronos) – Vaccine revolution in the United States, with a clear cut. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announce a revision of the childhood vaccination program, which will lead to fewer recommended shield injections for all children. With this change, which will take immediate effect, ‘Nbc News’ reports, the vaccination schedule will be more similar to Denmark’s, recommending immunization against 11 diseases, compared to the 18 previously planned. The decision has sparked debate among experts.
In detail, US media report, the CDC stated that vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, HPV, and chickenpox will continue to be recommended for all children.
Other vaccines will be recommended only for “high-risk groups” or recommended based on the so-called shared clinical decision-making process (parents-doctor). Vaccines recommended for high-risk groups are those against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and two types of bacterial meningitis (MenACWY and MenB vaccines). Dengue vaccines have always been intended only for a relatively small number of children in specific circumstances. While vaccines included in the shared clinical decision-making process are now those against rotavirus, influenza, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningococcal disease. The Covid vaccine had already been moved to the shared decision-making phase last year.
Another important change is that the CDC now recommends only one dose of HPV vaccine. It is also specified that all vaccines recommended for any of the three categories will continue to be covered by insurance. An assurance that does not quell the fears expressed by some experts about changes seen as too radical. Officials of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), who have not changed their recommendations on childhood vaccinations, also oppose the new schedule. And many pediatricians and family doctors have stated, for example, to ‘Cidrap News’ that they will continue to follow AAP guidelines rather than CDC ones. The fear is of a risk of preventable diseases returning.
Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, has long argued that US children receive “too many” vaccines. The new announcement responds to a long-standing desire to reduce them and is also in line with the directive issued last month by President Donald Trump, which asked the HHS to align the US vaccination schedule with that of Denmark and other countries that recommend fewer vaccines.
“This is a very dark day for children, for their parents, and for our country in general,” said Jesse Goodman, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University, in a press conference with vaccine experts convened after the announcement. Goodman compared the announcement to a “torpedo” that blows up vaccine policy. “There will be more diseases, more infections, more hospitalizations.”
The Trump administration – said a former member of ACIP, the expert committee that provides recommendations to the CDC on immunization practices (and which was recently entirely replaced by RFK Jr.) – has also bypassed the usual process for updating vaccination schedules, which normally involves input from scientific experts, public health officials, and other stakeholders.
