States Disregard CDC Vaccine Schedule Change Despite International Scientific Consensus

At least 19 states have announced they will not comply with the new federal childhood vaccine schedule recommendations updated earlier this month by the CDC. The states instead have chosen to align with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which says it will continue to share its own “evidence-based vaccination schedule.” The AAP wrote that its recommendations are “rooted in science and have been trusted by parents and pediatricians for decades.”

The CDC conducted a comprehensive review of the childhood vaccination schedule and compared it to 20 peer nations after President Trump called for a review. The HighWire reported on the fast-tracked review and compared the differences of vaccine doses between the US and other peer nations. Before the removal of the COVID-19 annual booster, the US recommended vaccinating children with up to 72 doses for 18 diseases from the time children are born until they turn 18. The revised schedule now recommends 22-23 doses for 11 diseases, which closely aligns with Denmark’s childhood schedule.

Denmark also has a significantly lower infant mortality rate, with 3.4 per 100,000 births compared to 6.4 in the US, and a higher life expectancy. The data show that the US has worse health outcomes than peer nations despite recommending the most doses of vaccines for children for the largest number of diseases.

The removal of Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, RSV, rotavirus, meningococcal, and influenza vaccines from the childhood schedule will not remove them from coverage under insurance plans. The federal government does not have the authority to mandate vaccines or alter mandates for public school vaccine requirements. Those requirements are set by the state government, including any medical and religious exemptions.

The states that have decided to align with AAP recommendations instead of the CDC are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico,  New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. All of these states have a Democratic Party governor.

“Aligning our recommendations with professional medical associations helps provide clarity and stability for families and providers by using a proven set of recommendations that doctors and other clinicians already know and trust,” Minnesota Commissioner of Health Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD, said in a Minnesota Department of Health news release.

The AAP has been criticized by HHS Secretary Kennedy, ACIP member Robert Malone, and many others for having conflicts of interest. The AAP, for example, has a list of corporate donors and partnerships that include Merck, Moderna, Sanofi, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline, which all manufacture vaccines on the AAP’s recommended schedule.

The AAP reportedly told Undark that only 4% of its funding comes from these corporate donations and that it is not used for policy development. However, the Undark report also found that despite claims of being transparent about conflicts of interest, public reports showed nine out of 16 members of the committee responsible for immunization recommendations received payments, research funding, or perks from vaccine manufacturers. That is the committee that decided to continue recommending COVID-19 vaccines for all healthy children six months or older, despite the US being an outlier compared to peer nations, which only recommend the shot for elderly individuals and those with comorbidities.

A letter was sent to Congress requesting an investigation into changes to the childhood vaccine schedule. The letter was signed by over 200 medical groups, including the AAP, and many of which have connections, partnerships, payments, and/or a revolving door of influence between the groups and the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture vaccines.

The letter alleges that the changes lack a “clear scientific basis” and that “credible scientific evidence” was ignored. HHS Secretary Kennedy said the new vaccine schedule aligns with the vaccines for which there is international consensus and that the agency will work to conduct double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trials to restore trust in the vaccine program.

The letter references a CDC modeling study published in 2024 as evidence that the vaccines removed from the schedule should still be included. The study estimates the number of hospitalizations and deaths that have been saved by the CDC vaccine schedule from 1994 through 2023, but does include meningococcal, RSV, or influenza in the evaluations. It also does not evaluate the risks of the vaccines or associated deaths from the VAERS database.

After the CDC updated the childhood schedule to remove recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccines to align with peer nations, the AAP sued the federal agency, alleging healthcare practitioners have experienced financial harm due to the extra time it takes to inform patients in “shared clinical decision making.”

The lawsuit alleges that several physicians have had to spend more time counseling patients about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines due to “confusion and distrust.” Other physicians have allegedly been financially harmed by unused vaccines that cannot be returned. Another Dr. alleges harm from having to spend time changing local and state laws that “tie vaccine recommendations to ACIP and CDC guidance.”

The vaccines that have been removed from the CDC-recommended schedule are still available and covered under insurance. The updated schedule now calls for these vaccines to be considered on a case-by-case basis rather than routinely recommended to every child. This is the shared clinical decision-making category of the CDC schedule.

The AAP lawsuit against Secretary Kennedy and others is still ongoing with the intent to reverse the changes made to the CDC schedule, including the removal of the COVID-19 vaccines made last year. The lawsuit also asks for the current ACIP panel to be removed and reconstituted. A preliminary injunction hearing is set for February 13, in which the judge will consider whether to vacate the changes to the CDC schedule and whether to block the upcoming ACIP hearing scheduled for February 25-26.

The HighWire also reported on the potential of manufacturers losing liability protection for vaccines that are removed from routine recommendation. Attorney Aaron Siri clarified that the next step requires HHS to amend the vaccine injury table to remove the vaccines that are no longer routinely recommended.