(The Lion) — The Trump administration is revising the childhood vaccine schedule to align with what it says is scientifically best for children, dramatically reducing the number of required vaccines.
President Donald Trump’s May 29 executive order acknowledges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s revision of the American childhood vaccine schedule based on a scientific assessment by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The assessment found the number of recommended vaccine doses had risen from 23 doses in seven shots against seven diseases in 1980 to 84 doses in 57 shots for 17 diseases in 2024. Those numbers do not include the RSV monoclonal antibody immunization, bringing the total to 18 diseases that guidelines say children should be inoculated against.
The order states that the United States’ core childhood vaccine schedule “should be aligned with scientific evidence and best practices from peer developed countries while preserving access to vaccines currently available to Americans and that the Federal Government will continue to protect religious freedom and enforce all legal protections for parents.”
The HHS assessment, released in January 2026, concluded that the CDC should prioritize “11 routine childhood vaccines, while preserving flexibility for parents and doctors to make individualized decisions for higher-risk children through shared clinical decision-making.”
Following the release of the assessment, the CDC revised its recommendations to include “immunization for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and varicella for all children,” plus optional shots for high-risk children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics called the CDC’s recommendations “dangerous and unnecessary,” saying it will “continue to make its own evidence-based recommendations.”
More than a dozen Democrat-led states have sued to block the changes.
Along with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump has expressed his intention to “make America healthy again,” starting with the youngest generations. According to the order, signing the document is “reaffirming his commitment to gold-standard science” for the American people.
