Statement: Wholesale Slashing of the Child and Adolescent CDC Immunization Schedule is Illegal and Dangerous

The following is a statement from Sue Peschin, MHS, President and CEO of the Alliance for Aging Research regarding changes announced to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule. 

“The wholesale slashing of the child and adolescent CDC immunization schedule by HHS political appointees is illegal and represents a dangerous departure from evidence‑based public health practice. Vaccine science hasn’t changed — politics has. The Alliance for Aging Research calls on policymakers and the courts to act expeditiously to halt yet another action by this administration to undermine vaccine science. Failure to put a stop to this will inevitably result in avoidable sickness and death of American children and their grandparents.

The reckless changes to the schedule include shifting several vaccines to only high‑risk groups, and others to a ‘shared clinical decision‑making‘ category, despite decades of data demonstrating their population‑level benefits.

Officials claim that ‘insurance coverage for all vaccines will continue,’ but it is false to suggest these significant changes won’t impact vaccine access for the more than 50% of U.S. children who rely on federal health programs that strictly follow CDC recommendations. AHIP—the national trade association representing the private health insurance industry—announced that health plans will continue coverage for all ACIP-recommended immunizations recommended as of September 1, 2025, with no cost-sharing through the end of 2026. This will create massive disparities between children on public versus private health insurance.

These changes follow a December 5, 2025, executive order directing the United States to align its vaccine schedule with countries that administer fewer vaccines. The order cited Denmark, Japan, and Germany as examples. But this comparison ignores a critical reality: diseases like rotavirus, RSV, influenza, and COVID‑19 infect nearly all children by age ten, regardless of national borders.

Following Denmark’s experience will set the U.S. back in protecting our nation’s kids. Each year, approximately 1,200 Danish children are hospitalized with severe dehydration from rotavirus, and more than 2,800 — mostly under six months old — are hospitalized with RSV pneumonia. When adjusted for population size, these numbers mirror the U.S. pre‑vaccine era. The more appropriate question is not why the United States vaccinates more than Denmark, but why Denmark does not emulate the U.S. program.

If politics continues to dictate immunization policy, the cost will be measured in the lives and health of American children. We are not willing to let that happen.”