Federal health officials would review and update childhood vaccine recommendations

The CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices must review the assessment and latest clinical data and may take appropriate steps to update the schedule. The review covers routine childhood and adolescent immunizations, including recommendations about when and in what order vaccines are given. Any update must comply with existing law. The review should consider giving parents and doctors more flexibility over vaccine timing and sequencing. The direction applies after the order was issued and does not set a completion date.

Federal agencies must align their child and adolescent immunization actions, rules, funding, and coverage with the schedule adopted by the CDC. The direction covers federal programs and agencies involved with childhood and adolescent immunizations. Agencies must follow laws protecting parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection. Vaccines listed in any category of the CDC-adopted schedule should continue to have no private-insurance cost sharing and coverage through Medicaid, CHIP, and Vaccines for Children. The alignment applies as agencies take actions related to child and adolescent immunizations, subject to available funding and applicable law.

An HHS official must inform state governments and health officials about the order’s policies. The information is for state officials considering vaccination laws and for state and federal health agencies. The scientific assessment is offered as a resource for state consideration; the order does not direct states to change their laws. The information-sharing direction applies after the order’s issuance and has no stated end date.