On January 5, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. childhood immunization schedule without any new scientific evidence or review by an advisory committee.
The new schedule downgrades recommendations for previously routine vaccines such as RSV (the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the U.S.) and rotavirus (which caused more than 50,000 childhood hospitalizations annually before routine vaccination).
These revisions are not based on new evidence or research, but a scientific assessment without peer review that compares the U.S. childhood schedule to other countries. This approach ignores differences between the healthcare system and disease burden in the U.S. compared to other countries. It also overlooks the experiences of many family physicians who remain dedicated to preventing the harms and suffering caused by preventable diseases.
These recent actions by Secretary Kennedy are only the latest to undermine evidence-based vaccine policy and weaken public trust. After dismissing and excluding relevant medical expertise from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), creating unnecessary barriers to COVID-19 vaccination, and terminating research for new vaccine technologies, he continues to bypass established scientific review processes, increase confusion for clinicians and families, and threaten decades of progress in preventing vaccine-preventable disease.
Vaccines save lives. Between 1994 and 2023, routine childhood immunizations prevented approximately 508 million illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations, and more than 1.1 million deaths, saving the U.S. healthcare system hundreds of billions of dollars.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) strongly supports universal access to immunizations and opposes any effort to politicize or weaken trusted public health infrastructure.
Take action now. Urge your members of Congress to defend science-based vaccine policy and reject actions that threaten public health.