Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s substantial reduction to the number of vaccines recommended for children, the American Academy of Pediatrics has released an updated version of its own guidance that again spurs the federal government.
The CDC’s revision, unveiled Jan. 5, axed six of the 17 vaccines previously recommended to protect U.S. children from flu, COVID, rotavirus, meningitis, hepatitis A and hepatitis B. It also limited its recommendation for immunization against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and advised that one dose of the HPV vaccine is as effective as two shots.
The AAP’s 2026 immunization schedule, released Jan. 26, has only minor differences and clarifications from the schedule the group released back in August in response to the CDC and its advisors’ shifting tone on childhood vaccines. It recommends children be vaccinated against 18 diseases, including RSV, influenza, hepatitis B and measles.
“The AAP will continue to provide recommendations for immunizations that are rooted in science and are in the best interest of the health of infants, children and adolescents of this country,” AAP President Andrew Racine, M.D., said in a statement. “Routine childhood immunizations are an important early step in the path to lifelong health. Every step you take alongside your child on that path is because you want them to grow up healthy and as a trusted partner on that journey, your pediatrician welcomes conversations about all your child’s healthcare, including immunizations.”
Federal health officials said their substantial changes to childhood vaccination recommendations, which went into effect immediately upon announcement, stemmed from a “comprehensive scientific assessment” that looked at other developed nations, such as Denmark, which advises immunization against just 10 diseases. Such a review had been directed by President Donald Trump in December.
“After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement earlier this month. “This decision protects children, respects families and rebuilds trust in public health.”
Federal officials have said that vaccines on the CDC schedule that are no longer considered routine would maintain their insurance coverage and liability protections.
The decision to pare back the schedule by about a third was criticized by several medical organizations and other vaccine experts. They said the review did not appear to be based on scientific rigor and stressed that the other countries’ risk and benefit considerations when reviewing immunization recommendations differ from those of the U.S.
The AAP, in a release, said its recommendations “are based on a well-established framework for evidence evaluation, review of vaccine safety data, the epidemiology of the diseases in the United States, the impact of the diseases and how the vaccines could prevent the diseases and their complications.”
The AAP also said its updated immunization schedule has been endorsed by 12 medical and healthcare organizations, including the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
“Parents deserve clear, evidence-based guidance when making decisions about their children’s health,” David Aizuss, M.D., chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “At a time when unprecedented changes to the federal vaccine schedule threaten decades of scientific progress, the AMA strongly supports the American Academy of Pediatrics’ childhood and adolescent immunization schedule to keep children safe and healthy.”
Federal health agencies under Kennedy, who, prior to his appointment, had publicly advocated against several routine vaccinations for children, have taken several steps to blunt the government’s broad support. Those have included weakened recommendations for COVID shots, a fully reconstituted CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a weakened recommendation by that panel on hepatitis B vaccine for newborns and the removal of some members of the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccinations.
AAP and other provider organizations have taken to the courts in a bid to unwind several of those changes. That includes a Jan. 19 amended complaint filing that seeks to halt implementation of the early January immunization schedule.Â