Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cut the number of vaccines it recommends for all children, following a review of vaccination practices in other countries, and evidence on the benefits and risks of the shots on the CDC’s schedule.
A review, prompted by a 2025 directive from President Donald Trump, showed that the US was “a global outlier among peer nations in the number of target diseases included in its childhood vaccination schedule and in the total number of recommended vaccine doses,” health officials wrote in an assessment, according to The Epoch Times.
Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, a top Food and Drug Administration official, and Martin Kulldorff, chief science officer at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, authored the assessment. Officials have been told to keep in place recommendations for certain vaccines, including the measles shot, in part because there is a consensus for the vaccines across peer nations.
But the CDC has been advised to stop broadly recommending six other shots, including the hepatitis A vaccine, pointing to how some other similar countries do not recommend them for all, or any, children.
“Childhood vaccination recommendations must … be based on the best available evidence and the best practices of peer, developed nations,” they wrote. “If there is a clear benefit of the vaccine, as for measles vaccines, the risks will need to be more substantial to outweigh the benefit. On the other hand, if the benefits are limited, as for the hepatitis A vaccine, even a small risk will tip the balance, where harms outweigh the benefits.” Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill approved the changes.