Trump calls for revision of US childhood vaccine guidelines

On Friday, President Donald Trump ordered a comprehensive review of childhood vaccination guidelines in the United States, instructing federal health authorities to benchmark them against practices in other advanced nations and make adjustments if warranted. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been tasked with conducting this evaluation. According to a White House memorandum, any superior strategies identified abroad should be incorporated into the US recommendations.

The memorandum highlighted that, as of January 2025, the United States recommended vaccinating all children against 18 diseases, positioning the country as an outlier compared with peer nations. In contrast, Denmark recommends immunization for only 10 serious diseases, Japan for 14, and Germany for 15. The document also suggested that other current US vaccination guidelines differ from those of most developed countries, although the specifics were not detailed.

CDC Panel Revises Hepatitis B Recommendation for Newborns

Earlier on Friday, US health officials voted to relax the long-standing guidance that newborns must receive a hepatitis B shot immediately after birth. President Trump praised the decision on Truth Social as a very good decision. The CDCs vaccine advisory committee proposed that mothers who test negative for hepatitis B should have the option, in consultation with a physician, to delay the vaccination. The first dose could be postponed until the child is at least two months old, pending formal approval by the CDC director.

State-Level Opposition

Several West Coast states expressed strong opposition to the advisory committees change. California Governor Gavin Newsom, along with officials from Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii, criticized the panel for lacking credible evidence to support the adjustment. These states continue to recommend that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, emphasizing the importance of subsequent doses to ensure protection. Newsom stated, Universal hepatitis B vaccinations at birth save lives, and walking away from this science is reckless, further criticizing what he described as ideological influence on national health policy.

While the CDC sets the national immunization schedule, individual states retain the authority to implement the recommendations as they see fit.

Author: Riley Thompson