The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday reaffirmed its recommendation that children receive vaccines for eighteen diseases, breaking with new CDC vaccine for children guidance that reduced the federal childhood immunization schedule for the first time in three decades.
The nation’s leading pediatric group said it will continue endorsing shots that protect against illnesses including COVID-19, influenza, hepatitis A and B, measles and polio, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention narrowing its schedule to eleven diseases earlier this month.
The move marks the first significant split between the AAP and the CDC since the groups began issuing a unified childhood vaccine schedule in 1995. Pediatric leaders said the federal changes are not supported by scientific evidence and risk undermining child health protections.
AAP Rejects Federal Rollback, Citing Strong Medical Evidence
“We used to partner very closely with CDC to create a unified, harmonized set of vaccine recommendations,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases. “But the recent CDC vaccine for children changes mark a strong departure from the medical evidence and no longer provide the optimal way to prevent illness in children.”
The AAP, which represents about 67,000 pediatricians nationwide, has issued annual vaccine guidance since 1935. Its latest recommendations mirror its long-standing schedule, which it says is based on decades of clinical research and real-world data.
Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration overhauled the CDC vaccine for children schedule, citing a need for “more and better science” on vaccines. Federal officials have not specified what evidence is lacking or how it would be obtained.
AAP President Dr. Andrew Racine said disease risks have not changed, and neither should the response.
“This is the same recommendation that we’ve had all along,” Racine said. “The distribution of these illnesses hasn’t changed, the risk to children hasn’t changed, and so the vaccine schedule hasn’t changed.”
States, Medical Groups Align With Pediatricians
The pediatricians’ stance is gaining broad institutional support. According to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, at least twenty-eight state health departments have said they will not follow the revised CDC schedule.
Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have also endorsed the AAP guidance.
“There is strong alignment there,” said Dr. Kristina Bryant, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky. “The AAP immunization schedule has been rigorously studied, and it works to keep children and communities healthy.”
Both the CDC and AAP continue to recommend many core vaccines, including those for measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox, and polio. The disagreement stems from several routine childhood shots that the CDC vaccine for children schedule now places under “shared decision-making,” including vaccines for COVID-19, RSV, influenza, rotavirus, meningitis, and hepatitis A and B.
Doctors Say Guidance Change Raises Parental Questions
Pediatricians say shared decision-making is already standard practice and that the CDC’s language may confuse families rather than empower them.
“We are well used to talking to families about vaccines,” said Dr. Deanna Behrens, a pediatrician in suburban Chicago and an AAP member. “That’s something we’ve been doing for a long time. Trusting your pediatrician is critical.”
In Lubbock, Texas, Dr. Ana Montanez said the federal shift has increased uncertainty among parents.
“Families came to me for clarity before these changes were made,” said Montanez, who practices at Texas Tech Physicians. “Now that changes are made, it’s even more important. I definitely welcome the questions.”
AAP leaders said they hope their guidance provides consistency for physicians and reassurance for parents navigating conflicting messages about childhood vaccines.
