Local public health leaders say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) revised guidance that scales back routine childhood vaccinations could confuse parents and weaken decades of disease prevention.
The updated guidance reduces the number of vaccines recommended for infants and children and shifts several — including RSV, influenza, hepatitis A and hepatitis B — to “shared decision-making” between parents and clinicians.
“At this point, we don’t really know what the full implications of this announcement are in general, let alone in New York,” said Dr. Eve Walter, Ulster County Public Health Director.
She worries the revised guidance may unintentionally signal that vaccines are unsafe.
“It suggests that these are potentially harmful, which is inaccurate,” Walter said. “That’s not ever stated in the revised guidelines, but in the mind of your average person, why wouldn’t they think that?”
Walter emphasized that the vaccines affected by the changes “have been proven to be extremely safe and extremely important in reducing hospitalizations and deaths.”
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement Tuesday, “Despite changes announced at the federal level, New York State’s long-standing, childhood vaccine requirements remain the same,” “There was no new science, safety data or discovery presented by the federal government. New Yorkers can continue to be confident that vaccines offer the best protection from preventable childhood diseases.”
McDonald said the changes do not affect vaccine access, insurance coverage, liability protections, or the federal Vaccines for Children program. State health officials struck a similar tone last month after a federal vaccine advisory committee voted to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S. newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on “X” that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was trying to “sow chaos and confusion among parents,” but those changes would not affect Pennsylvania families.
Risk of confusion and mistrust
Walter said the CDC announcement comes at a particularly dangerous moment, as RSV, influenza and COVID are circulating at high levels. “We are in high season for RSV and influenza,” she said. “All of these diseases are ones that we are quite concerned about, especially in children who are the most vulnerable.”
Walter warned that reducing universal vaccine recommendations could erode herd immunity, particularly for diseases like measles.
“We already see fear and distrust of immunizations getting into social media,” she said. “People are not getting immunized the way we really need them to.”
She noted that while some parents delay measles vaccinations, school mandates have historically pushed immunization rates into the high 90 percent range. “Making this mandatory has helped tremendously in essentially eradicating so many of these diseases,” Walter said. “We’re going to lose that criteria.”
Comparisons to other countries fall short
Federal officials have cited vaccine schedules in other developed nations, but Walter said those comparisons ignore major structural differences.
“Denmark is tiny compared to the United States,” she said. “It has universal health care. Parents are taking their kids more regularly to get care.” In the U.S., she said, early childhood visits may be the only chance to vaccinate children from low-income or housing-insecure families.
“Our whole system is very, very different here,” Walter said. “And we already have people falling through the cracks.”
Despite the federal changes, Walter said anxiety around infectious disease is growing locally. “This week, for the first time that I’m aware of, we had so many requests that we had to expand our clinic hours,” she said. “People are very nervous.”
What parents should know
Walter urged families not to make rushed decisions while state leaders evaluate the guidance.
“I would ask people to hang tight,” she said. “We honestly don’t know yet what this all means. We don’t even know if this will stand.”
Her bottom line message remains unchanged.
“The immunizations that we have in place have absolutely been tested,” Walter said. “They are safe. They are effective. They reduce hospitalizations. They reduce death.”
Parents with questions are encouraged to contact their local health departments.
“Just know that you have a partner,” Walter said.
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