In Show of Support for RFK Jr., Trump Orders ‘Comprehensive Evaluation’ of Childhood Vaccine Schedule
This changes everything.
This article originally appeared on The Defender and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.
President Donald Trump last week directed HHS to “fast track” a comprehensive review of the childhood immunization schedule. Trump also praised the CDC vaccine advisers for voting to end the recommendation that all newborns receive the Hep B vaccine.
President Donald Trump last week directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “fast track” a comprehensive review of the childhood immunization schedule.
“The American Childhood Vaccine Schedule long required 72 ‘jabs,’ for perfectly healthy babies, far more than any other Country in the World, and far more than is necessary. In fact, it is ridiculous! Many parents and scientists have been questioning the efficacy of this ‘schedule,’ as have I!” Trump posted.
Trump issued a memorandum, which he announced on Truth Social after the conclusion of last week’s two-day meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) panel of vaccine advisers.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which met Dec. 4-5, voted to end the recommendation that all infants receive the hepatitis B (Hep B) vaccine at birth.
The committee members also heard presentations questioning the safety of the current childhood vaccination schedule and comparing its health outcomes to those of Denmark and other high-income countries.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said ACIP “made a very good decision” to end the Hep B vaccine recommendation for newborns.
Trump’s memorandum directs U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the CDC to “review best practices from peer, developed countries for core childhood vaccination recommendations,” including “the scientific evidence that informs those best practices,” as part of the review.
If the review finds that the childhood vaccination policies of other countries “are superior to current domestic recommendations,” the memorandum directs HHS and the CDC to “align” the childhood vaccination schedule “with such scientific evidence.”
In a post on X on Friday, Kennedy thanked Trump and wrote, “We’re on it.”
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Dr. Larry Palevsky, a pediatrician, called Trump’s memorandum “unprecedented.” “Trump became the first American president to appropriately challenge the safety and efficacy of vaccines.”
Dr. Michelle Perro, also a pediatrician, told The Defender:
“Any medical intervention given to virtually every child deserves ongoing, rigorous re-evaluation. My hope is that this process will be data-driven, transparent and free from industry or political capture, which is something parents have not felt confident about for a long time.”
James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., also responded. “People, the public, the taxpayers deserve to know: do we have the safest possible schedule?” the research scientist and author asked.
ACIP member Retsef Levi, Ph.D., told The Washington Post that more research into childhood vaccines is needed. He said vaccines have risks that “are currently not well understood.”
In June, ACIP formed a work group to study the cumulative effect of all childhood vaccines.
ACIP’s Hep B vaccine recommendation now awaits approval by acting CDC Director Jim O’Neil. The Post reported Friday that the rollback of the Hep B shot recommendation “could portend broader changes to come” on vaccine policy.
Trump’s memorandum a ‘vote of confidence’ in RFK Jr.’s leadership
Trump’s memorandum and accompanying fact sheet took aim at the latest version of the childhood immunization schedule.
“In January 2025, the United States recommended vaccinating all children for 18 diseases, including COVID-19, making our country a high outlier in the number of vaccinations recommended for all children,” the memorandum states.
According to the memorandum, “Peer, developed countries recommend fewer childhood vaccinations — Denmark recommends vaccinations for just 10 diseases with serious morbidity or mortality risks; Japan recommends vaccinations for 14 diseases; and Germany recommends vaccinations for 15 diseases.”
The fact sheet states that “timing and administration of the vaccines also varies by country” — some do not require certain vaccines at birth or on an annual basis.
“Practices like the hepatitis B vaccination at birth are standard in the United States, but uncommon in most developed countries, where it is typically only recommended for newborns of mothers who test positive for the infection,” the fact sheet states.
During Friday’s ACIP meeting, Tracy Beth Høeg, M.D., Ph.D., who last week was named the next leader of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said there are “eye-opening differences in the recommendations” between the U.S. and her native Denmark.
Biologist Christina Parks, Ph.D., said it was evident that Trump “was listening … to the fact that it appears that our regulatory agencies have been co-opted by money and not really looking at the cost-benefit analysis of vaccines.”
In September, Trump made similar statements questioning the safety of the childhood immunization schedule — and the administration of the Hep B shot at birth — during an event announcing that HHS would study all possible causes of autism.
Earlier that month, the White House’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission unveiled its “Make Our Children Healthy Again” strategy report, outlining 128 recommendations for tackling the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S., including a review of existing vaccine policies and recommendations.
Friday’s fact sheet said that the review of the childhood vaccination schedule is part of these MAHA-related initiatives.
Axios said Trump’s memorandum is a “vote of confidence” in Kennedy’s leadership of HHS and Kennedy’s “handpicked advisory panel on vaccines” — referring to ACIP.
In June, Kennedy dismissed ACIP’s 17 previous members. Later in June and in September, Kennedy appointed several new members to ACIP.
In a statement shared with The Defender, HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard said:
“Secretary Kennedy reconstituted ACIP to strengthen its independence and to end past practices that favored established corporate interests over open scientific review.
“Instead of promoting the failed politics of the pandemic, HHS is promoting transparency in vaccine safety data and communicating clearly about both risks and benefits.”
“Kennedy and his allies have gained the power to pursue sweeping changes in U.S. vaccine policies,” Axios reported.
Mainstream medical organizations in a ‘panic’ over new vaccine guidelines
Friday’s ACIP developments and Trump’s memorandum prompted criticism by some political figures, pro-vaccine advocates and mainstream medical organizations.
In a post on X on Friday, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, said ACIP’s new Hep B recommendation “makes America sicker.”
Before last week’s ACIP meeting, Cassidy said the committee was “totally discredited” after it invited attorney and vaccine critic Aaron Siri to deliver a presentation questioning the childhood vaccination schedule.
Two prominent and outspoken promoters of vaccines — Dr. Paul Offit and Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D., who declined invitations to deliver presentations at last week’s ACIP meeting — also criticized the committee and Kennedy.
Offit told The New York Times that ACIP is “a political group, not a scientific group.” Hotez said ACIP “seems to have shifted its mission away from science and evidence-based medicine.”
Lyons-Weiler questioned Offit’s and Hotez’s criticism of ACIP and their decisions not to accept the committee’s invitation to deliver presentations at the meeting, which he said, “signals they do not have the science to back up their claims.”
“If they believe the new ACIP lacks scientific rigor, then the responsible move is to walk into the room, put the data on the table and challenge the panel openly,” Lyons-Weiler said.
In a New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) op-ed published last week, 12 former FDA commissioners said they were “deeply concerned” by the Trump administration’s vaccine policies, which “undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure that vaccines are safe, effective, and available when the public needs them most.”
That same day, three former CDC officials published an op-ed in STAT accusing ACIP of “losing its footing” and warning that the committee was “poised to raise vaccine risks while burying their benefits.”
The American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) also criticized ACIP’s new Hep B vaccine guidance and last week’s meeting.
In July, the AAP and other medical organizations sued Kennedy and HHS, alleging the new ACIP members unilaterally changed COVID-19 vaccine recommendations without evidence. Last week, the plaintiffs in that lawsuit updated their complaint.
In August, the CDC removed AMA and AAP representatives from ACIP vaccine work groups. That month, the AAP released its own “evidence-based” immunization schedule, calling universal immunization essential to protect children.
According to the Post, after the ACIP meeting, a “slew of Democratic governors” and state health officials reaffirmed guidance that all newborns get a Hep B shot.
In recent months, several state and city public health departments have formed coalitions, issuing vaccine guidance that counters CDC recommendations. In April, CIDRAP launched the Vaccine Integrity Project, which issues similar guidance.
Lyons-Weiler said these reactions suggest that mainstream medical organizations are in a “panic.”
“If the scientific foundation is as strong as they claim, a comparative review should be the easiest win imaginable,” Lyons-Weiler said. “Instead, we get apocalyptic rhetoric. That tells you these institutions are defending authority and revenue streams, not science.”
‘The priority should be children’s health, not corporate comfort’
In the aftermath of the ACIP meeting, some critics also questioned comparisons between the childhood vaccination schedules of the U.S. and other countries.
Speaking on behalf of the AAP, pediatrician Dr. José R. Romero told the Post, “Children in the United States are at risk of different diseases than children in other countries.” We also have a completely different health system.”
Jessica Malaty Rivera of Defend Public Health told the Post that comparisons between the vaccination schedules of the U.S. and countries like Denmark are “like comparing apples to steaks,” due to significant differences between the countries — an argument Lyons-Weiler characterized as “hand-waving.”
“If Denmark, Japan or Germany achieve excellent outcomes with fewer early-life injections, ignoring that comparison is malpractice,” he said.
Perro said cross-country comparisons are commonplace “in every other field of medicine,” adding that it is possible to “adjust for differences in size and health systems and still learn a great deal.”
Defend Public Health operates under the Peace Development Fund, whose funders include pharma giant GSK, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers and the Tides Foundation. Tides also funds the Center for Countering Digital Hate, publisher of the 2021 “Disinformation Dozen” list of “leading online anti-vaxxers” that included Kennedy.
STAT reported that vaccine makers are “terrified” of the Trump administration’s potential changes to vaccine policy, which are “alarming manufacturers.” Perro said, “That line unintentionally reveals a lot.”
“If manufacturers are ‘alarmed’ by a scientific review and possible schedule adjustments based on international best practices, we should be asking why. The priority should be children’s health, not corporate comfort.”
Related articles in The Defender
CDC Vaccine Panel Votes to End Universal Hep B Vaccine for Newborns
CDC’s New Vaccine Advisers Vow to Study Cumulative Effect of Childhood Vaccine Schedule
AAP Ratchets Up Complaints Against RFK Jr.’s CDC Vaccine Panel in Updated Lawsuit
Higher Infant Mortality Rates Linked to Higher Number of Vaccine Doses, New Study Confirms
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