American children receive more than twice as many vaccine doses as kids in some European nations, and President Trump is ordering federal health officials to do something about it.
The president signed an executive order Friday directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to overhaul the U.S. childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule, bringing it in line with practices from other developed countries that maintain high vaccination rates without heavy-handed mandates.
The numbers are staggering. The current 2024 schedule calls for at least 84 vaccine doses in at least 57 shots covering 17 diseases, plus an RSV monoclonal antibody immunization for a total of 18 diseases. Compare that to 1980, when just 7 vaccines were recommended for American children.
“My Administration is committed to ensuring that Americans are receiving the best scientifically supported medical advice in the world” and to “protecting religious liberty and parental authority,” Trump wrote in the order.
The directive formally adopts a January scientific assessment from the Department of Health and Human Services as “a guiding resource for the Federal Government.” That assessment found the U.S. schedule is “far more bloated” than those of peer nations and relies on mandates while most developed countries “maintain high childhood vaccination rates through public trust and education.” The HHS assessment recommended prioritizing 11 routine childhood vaccines.
The executive order instructs the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to “consider ways to provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors through recommendations for timing and sequencing of the administration of routine immunizations.”
This represents a significant win for parents who’ve long argued they should have more control over medical decisions for their children. The order explicitly requires federal departments and agencies to fulfill “all legal obligations with respect to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under the law.”
Families won’t face financial penalties for following the updated recommendations. The order mandates that all recommended immunizations be covered “without cost sharing by private insurance and covered by Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Vaccines for Children Program.”
The executive order directs the CDC to review the data and “take any appropriate steps to update the United States childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule” within the bounds of the law.
