More Than 200 Organizations Denounce Childhood Vaccine Schedule Change

Hundreds of medical organizations on both the state and national levels have banded together to challenge the government’s recent decision for scaling back childhood vaccine schedules, according to an article published in JAMA.¹

Stating that the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) changes were “not based on credible evidence,” these organizations called on US Congress to act accordingly with “swift and robust oversight” in recorrecting the vaccine update.²

“The undersigned organizations, representing health care clinicians, public health professionals, scientists, patients, and family advocates, urge you to conduct swift and robust oversight regarding the abrupt changes to the US childhood vaccine schedule announced on January 5, 2026,” began the authors of the letter. “It is essential that action is promptly taken to protect vaccine availability and coverage for all previously recommended immunizations for all families, including through the Vaccines for Children program.”

Just 4 days before these groups gathered to sign the letter, Jim O’Neill, acting director of the CDC, signed a memo on January 5 agreeing with and confirming the HHS decision to revise the US childhood and adolescent immunization schedule.³

READ MORE: HHS Limits Vaccine Recommendations for Childhood Schedules

According to the addendum, vaccine recommendations for children would switch from universal to shared decision-making for the hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, meningococcal, flu, and COVID-19 vaccines. Furthermore, what were once universally recommended vaccines for children are now being recommended solely for high-risk patients—including respiratory syncytial virus antibodies as well as the hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY, and dengue vaccines.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has worked very, very closely with the [CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) over the years] to craft the child and adolescent recommendations,” Sean O’Leary, MD, MPH, chair of the AAP’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, said in the JAMA letter.¹ “Unfortunately, now we can’t trust our federal government about anything related to vaccines, and that’s a tragedy.”

How the Letter Explicitly Calls on Congress to Act

Above all events and actions referenced in the memo, the authors provided recipients of the letter with historical context behind the efficacy of childhood vaccines. The authors provided context surrounding vaccines’ success since 1994 and also took the time to denounce many of the government’s recent decisions while also providing direction for the future.

First, the historical context provided included the sentiment that previous childhood vaccine recommendations have worked wonders for public health in the past. From 1994 to 2023, all recommended childhood vaccines have led to the prevention of 508 million cases of disease, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1 million-plus deaths in the US alone.²

The authors of the letter then took aim at the CDC’s recent decisions from the past year to dismantle ACIP and appoint new members who have historically expressed doubts regarding vaccine efficacy despite a plethora of real-world evidence. Next, they condemned the HHS decision to model vaccine guidance based on the country of Denmark—where officials even agree that it may not be useful to compare recommendations.

“Vaccine programs are developed in relation to a country’s specific population, health care system, disease burden, and access to care,” Morten Friis Bolvinkel, a spokesman for the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s counterpart to the CDC, told JAMA.¹ “For that reason, national vaccination schedules cannot be directly compared or transferred between countries.”

According to another official discussing the same inconsistencies between countries, Flor Muñoz, MD, MSc, associate professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine, said that “this is not an apples-to-apples comparison.”

The AAP and Company’s Ask to Congress

Despite hundreds of organizations banding together, the HHS decision to scale back childhood vaccine recommendations remains at the moment. Because of this administration’s unprecedented nationwide health decisions, many experts denouncing these decisions may lack faith that updated vaccine recommendations can be reversed.

However, the groups have still done their due diligence in offering Congress a path forward.

“While communities across the country endure increasing hospitalizations and deaths from seasonal flu, including the deaths of 9 children in the last few months, federal health officials are now no longer recommending the flu vaccine for children,” continued the authors of the letter.² “We urge you to investigate why the schedule was changed, why credible scientific evidence was ignored, and why the committee charged with advising the HHS secretary on immunizations did not discuss the schedule changes as a part of their public meeting process.”

Although many experts and leading medical organizations are displeased with the recent decision to limit recommendations, childhood patients and their parents will still be able to vaccinate based on their personal feelings and decisions. Moving to the shared clinical decision-making model, however, is expected to significantly blur the lines of vaccine understanding and access.⁴

As these uncertainties come to light throughout the coming months, organizations like AAP are continuing to recommend vaccines regardless of the HHS’ direction.⁵

“We’re doing everything we can to get the word out to pediatricians that you essentially need to ignore these directives from HHS,” concluded O’Leary.¹ “I think, for the most part, clinicians will continue to follow the science and do what’s best for kids.”

READ MORE: Survey Shows Significant Gaps in Understanding of Shared Decision-Making

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REFERENCES

1. Rubin R. Hundreds of medical groups challenge childhood immunization schedule changes—Here’s what to know. JAMA. January 16, 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.0095

2. Childhood vaccine schedule joint letter final. American Academy of Pediatrics. January 9, 2026. Accessed January 19, 2026. https://downloads.aap.org/DOFA/Childhood%20Vaccine%20Schedule%20Joint%20Letter%20Final.pdf

3. Decision memo adopting revised childhood adolescent immunization schedule. HHS. January 5, 2026. Accessed January 19, 2026. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/decision-memo-adopting-revised-childhood-adolescent-immunization-schedule.pdf

4. Nowosielski B. Survey shows significant gaps in understanding of shared decision-making. Drug Topics. January 7, 2026. Accessed January 19, 2026. https://www.drugtopics.com/view/survey-shows-significant-gaps-in-understanding-of-shared-decision-making

5. Anderer S. AAP continues recommending birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine after ACIP’s vote to remove. JAMA. January 02, 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.23003