Within the midst of what might be probably the most extreme flu seasons on report, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s CDC has ceased recommending all youngsters get vaccinated for the seasonal flu, together with 5 different beforehand advisable vaccines.
Guided by RFK Jr.’s hand-picked, anti-vaccine advisory committee, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s new childhood vaccine schedule reduced its recommendations from 17 immunizations to 11 on Monday.
Relatively than cite knowledge, Kennedy Jr. said the choice was made to raised align the U.S. with “peer, developed nations” ― citing Denmark, particularly, which immunizes youngsters towards 10 illnesses in comparison with the 18 beforehand advisable in the USA.
The choice baffled specialists outdoors RFK Jr.’s purview.
“There isn’t a scientific proof supporting the change in suggestions, and subsequently, Mr. Kennedy was unable to offer any,” stated Beth Jacobs, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and professor emerita from the College of Arizona who has studied vaccine refusal.
Jacobs can also be a founding member of Defend Public Well being, a volunteer community of well being professionals combating well being misinformation.
“As a substitute, HHS stated that fewer individuals getting vaccinated was a motive for the change,” she stated. “You don’t want to be a scientist to know that that is nonsensical, and I don’t consider that the modifications mirror the opinions of skilled CDC scientists.”
Andrew Harnik through Getty Photographs
CDC’s flu vaccine downgrade coincides with a pointy spike in hospitalizations for flu-like sickness throughout the nation, knowledge released Monday by the CDC reveals.
The company estimates there have been 120,000 hospitalizations to date this season, practically a 50% improve in comparison with the prior week. Round 8% of well being care supplier visits throughout that interval have been for flu-like signs, the highest since 1997, when the CDC first began monitoring that knowledge.
Whereas the 2025/2026 flu vaccine isn’t as efficient at combating this season’s flu pressure because it has been in prior years, it stays remarkably efficient at conserving youngsters from getting critically unwell.
In contrast with their non-vaccinated friends, data collected in England show that youngsters who acquired the flu vaccine this yr are nonetheless 72-75% much less prone to be hospitalized with the illness.
“It isn’t too late to get vaccinated,” stated Jacobs.
The American Academy of Pediatrics now releases its personal, evidence-based immunization schedule that Jacobs recommends dad and mom observe as a substitute.
One other vaccine the CDC now not unanimously recommends for youngsters is hepatitis B, a shot administered routinely since 1991 that’s drastically diminished the prevalence of lifelong illnesses like most cancers, liver failure and cirrhosis.
Additionally on the checklist: rotavirus. In Denmark, RFK Jr.’s mannequin nation, the diarrhea-causing virus hospitalizes eight occasions extra youngsters than it does within the U.S., the place, till yesterday, all youngsters have been advisable to get the vaccine:
Along with hepatitis B, rotavirus and influenza, the CDC additionally not recommends widespread vaccination for hepatitis A, sure types of meningitis, and RSV.
“That is however one other cannon shot at a load-bearing wall within the U.S. vaccination program,” mirrored Jacobs. “Not solely will Kennedy’s actions put youngsters at better threat for critical sickness and loss of life from vaccine-preventable illnesses, he’s additionally additional undermining belief in public well being and inflicting pointless confusion by forcing steerage that’s opposite to the scientific proof.”
