Vaccines and CDC Guidance

The CDC cut its universally recommended childhood vaccines from about 17–18 to 11, moving the universal hepatitis B newborn dose to two months for infants of mothers who test negative and reclassifying hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, RSV, meningococcal disease, seasonal flu and COVID‑19 as limited to high‑risk children or shared clinical decision‑making, while saying federal and private insurance will still cover vaccines no longer on the universal list. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long questioned the newborn hepatitis B shot, framed the overhaul as aligning U.S. guidance with peer countries and rebuilding trust, but the expedited, nonstandard process drew sharp criticism from pediatric and infectious‑disease experts and medical groups — many of whom say most peer nations still recommend universal hepatitis B — warning the rollback could lead to more preventable hospitalizations and deaths (hepatitis A, hepatitis B and rotavirus vaccines together have been credited with preventing nearly 2 million hospitalizations and over 90,000 deaths in the past three decades).