President Donald J. Trump on Friday ordered a comprehensive federal review of the United States childhood vaccine schedule, issuing the directive only hours after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to end its decades-long recommendation that all newborns receive a Hepatitis B vaccine dose at birth. The decision represents one of the most significant shifts in U.S. immunization policy in more than 30 years and immediately ignited debate across the scientific and political landscape.
For more than three decades, the CDC recommended universal administration of the Hepatitis B vaccine within the first 24 hours of life — guidance credited with reducing pediatric hepatitis B infections in the United States by 99 percent since 1991. The newly approved ACIP recommendation now removes that automatic guidance for infants born to mothers who test negative for the virus. Under the updated approach, parents and physicians will determine on a case-by-case basis whether to vaccinate immediately or wait until at least to two months of age to begin the series.
Trump’s directive framed the United States as an international “outlier” for its broad childhood vaccination schedule and called for an examination of safety data, scientific justification, global standards, and the structure of federal vaccine-recommendation processes. The presidential order also comes amid renewed scrutiny of federal health agencies under a panel appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose previous public comments have raised concerns within the medical community about the politicization of vaccine policy.
Medical groups and public-health experts reacted swiftly, warning that reversing universal newborn vaccination could compromise decades of progress in preventing mother-to-child transmission and could lead to increased infections, chronic liver disease, and long-term public-health setbacks. Vaccine manufacturers and infectious-disease specialists also urged caution, arguing that the birth dose has served as a critical safety net in cases where maternal infection status is unknown or inaccurately recorded.
Several states began responding independently. Colorado’s state health department publicly rejected the new CDC advisory within hours of its announcement, reaffirming its continued recommendation for the universal birth dose and urging providers not to change practice until further evidence-based evaluations are completed. Health officials across the country have expressed concern that the combination of the ACIP decision and the federal review could create confusion for parents and clinicians, potentially lowering vaccination uptake and weakening established protections.
As federal agencies begin the reevaluation ordered by the president, the United States enters a period of unprecedented uncertainty in childhood vaccination policy. The coming months are expected to bring intense scrutiny, scientific debate, and political division as experts assess the potential impact on public health and the nation’s long-standing immunization framework.
