American Academy of Pediatrics, Other Associations Reject HHS Advice Over Vaccine Schedule, Recommend Shots For 18 Diseases

A group representing thousands of pediatrics doctors is ignoring new recommendations by the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-run Department of Health and Human Services when it comes to childhood vaccinations in a decision that could leave parents questioning which set of recommendations to follow.The American Academy of Pediatrics — representing about 67,000 pediatricians — is recommending that children receive vaccines against 18 diseases. Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled new government suggestions that reduced the number of routinely recommended vaccines from 17 to 11.The academy has kept its recommendation that all children receive vaccines for hepatitis A and B, Covid-19, influenza, rotavirus, and meningococcal disease. The federal government dropped those immunizations from its schedule for most children.“The AAP will continue to provide recommendations for immunizations that are rooted in science and are in the best interest of the health of infants, children and adolescents of this country,” the group’s president, Dr. Andrew Racine, said in a statement. “Routine childhood immunizations are an important early step in the path to lifelong health. Every step you take alongside your child on that path is because you want them to grow up healthy and as a trusted partner on that journey, your pediatrician welcomes conversations about all your child’s health care, including immunizations.”The academy says it formerly partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a unified set of vaccine recommendations. “Recent changes to the CDC immunization schedule depart from longstanding medical evidence and no longer offer the optimal way to prevent illnesses in children,” the group said in a release.A spokeswoman for Health and Human Services called the academy “angry” that the CDC eliminated corporate influence in vaccine recommendations. Mr. Kennedy fired all of the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last summer and appointed members who share his long-held skepticism of vaccines.“The updated CDC childhood schedule continues to protect children against serious diseases while aligning U.S. guidance with international norms,” press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an emailed statement to the Sun. “Many peer nations achieve high vaccination rates without mandates by relying on trust, education, and strong doctor-patient relationships, and HHS will work with states and clinicians to ensure families have clear, accurate information to make their own informed decisions.”The American Academy of Pediatrics is among several public health groups that have jointly sued the CDC to vacate the agency’s recommended childhood vaccine schedule.Other medical organizations are falling in line with the academy’s recommendations. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is among 12 medical organizations to formally endorse the pediatric academy’s vaccination schedule.“ACOG is fully endorsing AAP’s Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule as we recognize the urgent need for people to have access to reliable, evidence-based vaccination recommendations they can use to inform health care decisions for their families,” the group’s president, Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, said in a statement. “It is critically important to public health that vaccination recommendations are updated based on scientific evidence and clinical data.”“We must support recommendations which have been developed through a thorough process including expert review of that data,” Dr. Fleischman added.Other groups endorsing the academy’s schedule are the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Nurse Midwives.More than half of state governments say they will not follow the new federal guidelines for at least some childhood vaccines, health-research organization KFF reports. The number of states that are breaking completely from federal vaccine recommendations for all childhood vaccines has risen from just nine in September to 25 this year.

American Academy of Pediatrics, Other Associations Reject HHS Advice Over Vaccine Schedule, Recommend Shots For 18 Diseases

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