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An extensive overhaul of US childhood vaccination guidelines has led to a reduction in the number of routinely recommended vaccines from 17 to 11.

The freshly released list from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes essential vaccines for diseases like poliomyelitis and measles. However, several others, including liver infection vaccines and Covid immunizations, are now categorized based on individual risk factors and subject to "shared medical deliberation" between doctors and parents.

"The new recommendation is risky and unnecessary," stated the American Academy of Pediatrics, labeling the change.

This sweeping policy shift represents the latest significant action undertaken under the present administration by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Official Rationale and International Alignment

Kennedy claimed the revision followed "following an exhaustive review" and "safeguards children, honors parents, and rebuilds trust in public health."

"We are bringing the American childhood vaccine calendar with global consensus while strengthening openness and informed consent," he continued.

According to the statement, the updated core schedule for all minors will cover immunizations for:

• Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)
• Polio
• Pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, and diphtheria (DTaP/Tdap)
• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
• Pneumococcal infection
• HPV
• Varicella (chickenpox)

3 Categories of Guidance

The new framework establishes three separate tiers of vaccine guidance:

1. Core Recommendations: The eleven shots mentioned above are recommended for all children.
2. Risk-Based Vaccines: This category contains shots for respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis A, Hep B, dengue, and meningitis strains (ACWY and B). They are suggested based on a patient's individual risk factors.
3. Shared Decision-Making Group: Immunizations for Covid-19, the flu, and rotavirus are now left to case-by-case discussion and decision by parents and their physicians.

For the time being, health insurance will continue to pay for vaccines that are currently on the schedule until the close of 2025.

International Context and Prior Controversy

The CDC performed a review of existing childhood schedules with those of 20 other developed nations. It determined the US was "an international exception" in both the quantity of illnesses targeted and the amount of shots required, the Department of Health and Human Services reported.

This latest change comes a short time after a separate advisory committee adjusted the schedule for the initial liver infection shot. Previously, a first dose was advised for newborns within a day of delivery. Updated guidelines last winter moved that to two months after birth if the mother tested negative for hepatitis B.

That prior recommendation was roundly condemned by pediatric doctors, with the American Academy of Pediatrics describing it "a dangerous step that will hurt kids."