CORAL GABLES — Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines almost in half. The order directs the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to review a January scientific assessment from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services and update the vaccine schedule for children and adolescents based on its conclusions.

The health and human services assessment compared U.S. childhood immunization recommendations with those of peer nations and concluded that only vaccines for 11 diseases—measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), and varicella—should remain universally recommended. Implementing the recommendation would remove hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, rotavirus, influenza, and Covid-19 vaccines from the standard childhood schedule. The assessment also proposed reducing the HPV vaccine from two or three doses to a single dose, depending on age.

The White House stated: “It is the policy of the United States that the 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.” The health and human services report claimed to model the U.S. schedule after those of peer countries but focused particularly on Denmark.

Fifteen states with Democratic governors have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services and Kennedy over the proposed changes. The lawsuit argues that removing vaccines from the universally recommended schedule will make children sicker and strain state healthcare resources. Attorneys for the states contended that Denmark is not a valid comparator due to its small, homogenous population and universal healthcare system, calling its vaccine policies a global outlier that cannot be retrofitted to the U.S.

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and former ACIP member, stated: “There seems to be little scientific basis for altering the recommendations that have gone through. If we do not progressively vaccinate children from certain diseases, sooner or later we will see the resurgence of these diseases, just as we are seeing with recent outbreaks of measles. The consequences of that will be more sick children, more visits to the doctor and more hospitalizations.” Dr. Anders Hviid, a Danish official at Denmark’s equivalent of the CDC, said: “It’s not at all fair to say look at Denmark unless you can match the other characteristics of Denmark.” Hviid also noted the irony in Kennedy’s department citing Denmark, given that he and other Danish health officials had previously debunked Kennedy’s theories about vaccine harm.