Mainstream doctors aren’t backing down from a fight with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The American Academy of Pediatrics has just released its own recommendations for which vaccines children and teens should receive—with some notable differences from the version recently tabled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The AAP published its childhood vaccine schedule on Monday, with the endorsement of 12 other medical organizations and groups, including the American Medical Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. The recommendations are in line with the AAP’s prior guidance but contain several vaccines no longer universally recommended by RFK Jr.’s CDC, including the flu shot.
“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,” said AAP President Andrew Racine in a statement released by the organization. “Routine childhood immunizations are an important early step in the path to lifelong health.”
Tried and tested
Last month, RFK Jr. and the Trump administration abruptly removed several vaccines from the recommended childhood vaccination schedule—a longstanding goal of the anti-vaccination movement. The CDC now only endorses childhood vaccines for 11 diseases, down from the 18 diseases previously recommended by the health agency.
The changes supposedly align the U.S. with other peer countries, federal officials have said, but the new schedule actually only copies that of Denmark—which vaccinates against 10 diseases—with one addition, chickenpox. Those left on the cutting room floor included hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, RSV, flu, and meningococcal disease. The CDC had previously removed the covid-19 vaccine from its routine schedule last year.
Many experts at the time lambasted the changes and the rationale behind them. Many countries recommend more childhood vaccines than Denmark does, including Canada, Japan, and Germany. Denmark’s schedule is also influenced by factors specific to the country and not the U.S., such as a universal health care system that better screens for diseases like hepatitis B. Vaccines for these diseases are now only recommended for high-risk groups or as part of a “shared clinical decision-making” process.
Just as importantly, there is no solid evidence that the timing and amount of vaccines previously recommended by the CDC posed any added risk to children’s health. And studies have continuously rebuffed antivaxxers’ claims made about specific routine vaccines, such as a supposed link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella, or MMR, vaccine (still on the current schedule).
The AAP’s schedule covers the same diseases previously recommended by the CDC. It also maintains a recommendation for children to get two doses of the HPV vaccine starting as early as ages 9 to 12, as opposed to the CDC’s new recommendation of one dose at age 11 or 12 (while some research has suggested one dose can provide effective protection, this strategy is still being evaluated, the AAP said).
“AAP recommends immunizations that have been designed to teach the immune system to recognize and resist serious diseases,” said Sean O’Leary, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, in a statement. “They are carefully tested and monitored over time. The pacing and combination of vaccines are based on what we know about when your child’s immune system is ready to learn and respond best.”
The growing resistance
The AAP’s new schedule is the most recent sign that doctors and local health officials won’t easily go along with RFK Jr.
While states have long relied on the CDC’s guidance to shape their vaccine policy, for instance, numerous state health departments have formed their own coalitions during the second Trump term and have stated that they will not carry out the changes endorsed by RFK Jr.’s CDC. The AAP and other organizations have also launched lawsuits against the Trump administration for past abrupt shifts to its vaccine policy and are now challenging the latest changes in court, too.
For the time being, though, it appears that RFK Jr. and his allies will continue to push the envelope in their agenda against vaccines. Over the weekend, Kirk Miloan, chair of the CDC’s advisory vaccine committee—a panel unilaterally reshaped by RFK Jr. last year—questioned whether Americans still needed vaccines for polio and measles. Notably, the U.S. is in the midst of a measles resurgence, one that might soon cause the country to lose its official measles-free status.
