CDC’s updated childhood vaccine schedule creates chaos for Georgia doctors
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed their childhood immunization schedule this week, throwing chaos into the evidence-based vaccination list previously pushed forward by the department.
Following a memorandum signed by President Donald Trump calling for the country’s vaccine schedule to align with other “peer-developed countries,” the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., removed the universal recommendation for several key vaccines — reducing the number of diseases targeted from 18 to 11.
Immunizations for hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the flu and meningococcal disease will no longer be universally recommended for children. For the much-discussed HPV vaccine, one dose will be recommended instead of two.
For many parents of young, school-aged children, these changes to what seemed like a straightforward vaccine schedule can be confusing.
“The evidence hasn’t changed at all, so there are still all these vaccines recommended for kids,” Dr. Hugo Scornik told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Scornik, a pediatrician who works out of Conyers, also serves as a chair for the American Academy of Pediatrics Georgia chapter on the Public Health Task Force. According to him, the best source for any questions of vaccines is your family’s own pediatrician.
“Call the doctor that knows the baby best, and come to them with any questions regarding immunizations,” he said.
Scornik plans to continue to follow the directives of the AAP, whose recommendations fall in line with the evidence-based ones previously backed by the CDC.
“AAP continues to recommend that children be immunized against these diseases, and for good reason. Thanks to widespread childhood immunizations, the United States has fewer pediatric hospitalizations and fewer children facing serious health challenges than we would without this community protection,” Dr. Andrew Racine, national AAP president, said in a news release about the new vaccine schedule.
Other celebrated medical institutions have echoed AAP’s directives, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which told the AJC in a statement, “On-time, routine childhood immunization schedules are based on robust scientific evidence that outlines when the vaccines will work best with a child’s immune system and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases.”
For many Americans who already had concerns about vaccines — concerns echoed by the president and RFK Jr. — switching to a recommendation list similar to another developed nation may seem like a no-brainer. Federal officials have pointed to Denmark as an example of the kind of vaccine approach the U.S. should be aiming for.
According to Scornik, concerns like these are misguided as the immunization recommendations that we follow are “ones that were made for the United States and for diseases that we have in this country.”
“So much careful thought went into these recommendations,” Benjamin Lopman, Ph.D., told the AJC. “Historically, the CDC would deliberate on all of the incredible amounts of scientific investigation very carefully and every aspect of these decisions took a lot of deliberation.”
Lopman, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, said he was “totally unclear why this action was taken, and really concerned on how the decision was made,” soon after learning of the new recommendations. In just a few short days, he’s already noticed how the updated vaccine schedule has made things more difficult for parents and health care professionals alike.
“Now we have the new schedule, new recommendations, which create a lot of confusion, and throw out a lot of expertise,” he said.
Lopman emphasized the importance of reassuring parents who have already vaccinated their children that there is no reason for concern. Pediatric providers across the state have stressed the same point.
“They [vaccines] are our strongest defense against the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta said in a statement. “We recommend parents and pediatricians work together to make an informed decision about what is best for their child.”
