President Donald Trump signed an executive order in Washington on Monday that alters federal childhood vaccine recommendations by narrowing the universally recognised routine immunisations to just 11 diseases.
The policy change, which began earlier this year, creates a new distinction between the federal government's universal recommendations and the broader schedule supported by the American Academy of Paediatrics.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced in January that the universal routine category would be reduced following a review of childhood immunisation schedules in 20 other developed nations.
The agency noted the United States previously recommended protection against 18 diseases, involving more total childhood doses than some of the international counterparts they examined.
Trump is now using the executive order to advance that approach.
Under the newly signed Trump vaccine plan, the designated list of 11 core diseases includes measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella.
Under the revised federal framework, those 11 diseases are included in the category recommended for all children.
Immunisations outside the primary universal category have not been eliminated from the federal framework.
The order places RSV monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal vaccines, and dengue protection in a category specifically reserved for certain higher-risk populations.
It lists hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza, and COVID-19 under a separate shared clinical decision-making category.
The 11-disease universal list does not mean children will receive only 11 injections. Yet, Trump highlighted the figure while promoting the executive order on Monday.
According to CBS News, the president claimed that 'in many cases, we were requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children.' That figure reflects Trump's characterisation of how many doses children could receive over time under previous recommendations, rather than 72 distinct vaccine products.
The executive order directs federal agencies to review the revised recommendations and take appropriate steps to advance them where legally permitted.
It advises states and territories to review the recommendations and consider whether their own immunisation laws and regulations should change. States retain authority over their school-immunisation policies, so any changes to school requirements would depend on decisions made under state law.
Beyond reclassifying diseases, the executive order calls for changes to how childhood immunisations could be offered and administered to patients.
