The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule, recommending fewer shots for children in the United States amid a surge of pediatric flu deaths.
The decision was announced on Monday by HHS’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was installed with a new group of members by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic.
The new recommendations require that vaccinations for flu, COVID-19, and rotavirus be based on “shared clinical decision-making,” which means that families who want these vaccines must consult with a health care provider. U.S. health officials also narrowed recommendations for vaccinations against RSV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis A to only children who are considered higher risk for infections. Vaccines against measles, mumps, polio, chickenpox, HPV, and others will continue to be recommended for all children.
“President Trump directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better,” Secretary Kennedy said in a statement. “After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent. This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health.”
The latest recommendations for childhood immunizations were quickly slammed by critics, who argue that they put the health and lives of U.S. children at risk.
“It’s one of the WORST flu seasons on record, and what is our HHS Secretary doing? GUTTING access to the flu vaccine,” U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md, shared on X. The member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions added, “How many children will have to die before RFK Jr. is fired? He is a danger to our children, our schools and our nation. He must go.”
Alsobrooks has been a vocal critic of Kennedy’s tenure as Health and Human Services secretary, arguing that his actions dangerously go against science and data.
“The Secretary and his sycophants are risking children’s lives all to satisfy their own cockamamie conspiracy theories. The federal government is supposed to improve American lives, not kill Americans,” Alsobrooks previously said.
The Maryland senator has repeatedly called for Kennedy to step down or be fired. Amid the changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, she urged Americans to “make health care decisions with their doctors and not listen to RFK Jr.’s handpicked conspiracy theorists who clearly have zero interest in science, medicine, or saving American lives.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been nine pediatric deaths from flu this season. The agency for the first time classified the 2025-26 season as “moderately severe.” The CDC estimates that there have been at least 11 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths this flu season.
