(Washington) The United States took the unprecedented step Monday of reducing the number of vaccines recommended for each child, giving families the choice of other immunizations, such as the flu shot, but without providing clear guidelines.
Published at
Officials have said the overhaul of the federal vaccination schedule would not result in any loss of access or insurance coverage for vaccines for families, but medical experts have criticized the move, saying it could lead to a drop in vaccination coverage for important vaccines and an increase in illnesses.
The change, which officials say was made without input from an advisory committee that typically looks at the vaccine schedule, follows President Donald Trump’s request in December for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review other countries’ approaches to vaccine recommendations and consider revising its guidelines to align with them.
HHS said its comparison with 20 similar countries found the United States was “atypical” in both the number of vaccinations and the number of doses recommended for all children. Agency officials touted the change as a way to build public confidence by recommending only the most important vaccines for children.
