Updated on: Jan 06, 2026 12:22 pm IST
CDC revises childhood vaccine schedule, reducing recommended vaccinations from 17 to 11 to align with developed nations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a major overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule on January 5, revising which immunizations are “universally recommended” for children.
The new plan, according to officials, aims to restore public confidence in the health system and bring U.S. guidelines closer to those in developed nations. The ideas the government is abandoning are really identical to those of several other wealthy nations, including those that U.S. officials consulted.
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What has changed and what remains universal
Jim O’Neill, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approved the new schedule, which reduces the number of recommended vaccinations from 17 to 11.
Certain vaccines, including those for the flu and rotavirus, can be administered through “shared clinical decision-making,” whereas others are only advised for high-risk individuals.
Core vaccines that remain universally recommended include shots protecting against:
- Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP)
- Heamophilius influenza type b (HiB)
- Pneumococcal disease
- Polio
- Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR)
- Human papillomavirus (HPV)
- Varicella (Chicken pox)
These remain in the list that is advised for all children as part of routine childhood immunisation.
In what is known as “shared decision-making,” the federal government now only advises protection against these diseases for specific children who are at high risk or based on the opinion of individual doctors.
- Flu
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Meningococcal disease
- Rotavirus
- RSV
- COVID-19, a change made in 2025
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Why were the vaccine recommendations changed?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, President Donald Trump requested the change in December.
Trump requested that the FDA examine how comparable countries handle vaccine recommendations and think about updating U.S. guidelines in light of these findings.
HHS stated that the United States was an “outlier” in terms of the number of immunizations and doses it advised for all children when compared to 20 peer countries.
The agency’s representatives presented the adjustment as a means of boosting public confidence by suggesting that children only receive the most crucial immunizations.
