The American Medical Association is fiercely opposing President Trump's latest executive order, which reaffirms a plan to align U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations with Denmark's-a nation with universal healthcare, less diversity, and a population roughly the size of Maryland.
AMA President Bobby Mukkamala stated: "There is no credible scientific evidence to support" this change. He emphasized the current U.S. vaccine schedule is based on "decades of rigorous research and real-world data" designed to protect American children at their most vulnerable moments, given the nation's disease burden.
The original plan, revealed in January by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would cut recommended immunizations from 17 to 11, eliminating shots for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B. This stems from a December executive order to adopt "best practices from peer, developed countries."
The administration's "comprehensive scientific assessment" was conducted by two political appointees with no vaccine policy expertise: Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg and biostatistician Martin Kulldorff, both allies of Kennedy. Former acting CDC director Jim O’Neill, a technology investor, signed off, but a federal judge temporarily blocked the changes in March, ruling Kennedy violated federal regulations.
President Trump's new order now directs the CDC to update the vaccine schedule using that controversial assessment as a "guiding resource," reigniting the legal and scientific battle over child immunization policy.