In the midst of what could be one of the most severe flu seasons on record, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s CDC has ceased recommending all children get vaccinated for the seasonal flu, along with five other previously recommended vaccines.
Guided by RFK Jr.’s hand-picked, anti-vaccine advisory committee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new childhood vaccine schedule reduced its recommendations from 17 immunizations to 11 on Monday.
Rather than cite data, Kennedy Jr. said the decision was made to better align the U.S. with “peer, developed nations” ― citing Denmark, in particular, which immunizes children against 10 diseases compared to the 18 previously recommended in the United States.
The decision baffled experts outside RFK Jr.’s purview.
“There is no scientific evidence supporting the change in recommendations, and therefore, Mr. Kennedy was unable to provide any,” said Beth Jacobs, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and professor emerita from the University of Arizona who has studied vaccine refusal.
Jacobs is also a founding member of Defend Public Health, a volunteer network of health professionals combating health misinformation.
“Instead, HHS said that fewer people getting vaccinated was a reason for the change,” she said. “You do not need to be a scientist to know that this is nonsensical, and I do not believe that the changes reflect the opinions of expert CDC scientists.”
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CDC’s flu vaccine downgrade coincides with a sharp spike in hospitalizations for flu-like illness across the country, data released Monday by the CDC shows.
The agency estimates there have been 120,000 hospitalizations so far this season, nearly a 50% increase compared to the prior week. Around 8% of health care provider visits during that period were for flu-like symptoms, the highest since 1997, when the CDC first started tracking that data.
While the 2025/2026 flu vaccine isn’t as effective at combating this season’s flu strain as it has been in prior years, it remains remarkably effective at keeping kids from getting seriously ill.
Compared with their non-vaccinated peers, data collected in England show that kids who got the flu vaccine this year are still 72-75% less likely to be hospitalized with the disease.
“It is not too late to get vaccinated,” said Jacobs.
The American Academy of Pediatrics now releases its own, evidence-based immunization schedule that Jacobs recommends parents follow instead.
Another vaccine the CDC now no longer unanimously recommends for children is hepatitis B, a shot administered routinely since 1991 that’s drastically reduced the occurrence of lifelong diseases like cancer, liver failure and cirrhosis.
Also on the list: rotavirus. In Denmark, RFK Jr.’s model nation, the diarrhea-causing virus hospitalizes eight times more kids than it does in the U.S., where, until yesterday, all children were recommended to get the vaccine:
In addition to hepatitis B, rotavirus and influenza, the CDC also no longer recommends widespread vaccination for hepatitis A, certain forms of meningitis, and RSV.
“This is but another cannon shot at a load-bearing wall in the U.S. vaccination program,” reflected Jacobs. “Not only will Kennedy’s actions put kids at greater risk for serious illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases, he is also further undermining trust in public health and causing unnecessary confusion by forcing guidance that is contrary to the scientific evidence.”
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