Order directs agencies to review childhood vaccine recommendations

Federal agencies must review the listed recommendations and take appropriate steps to advance them when the law allows. The recommendations cover vaccines for all children, vaccines for certain high-risk groups, and vaccines chosen through shared decisions between families and clinicians. The order keeps access to currently available vaccines as a policy goal. States and territories are advised, but not required, to consider changes to school vaccination laws and rules. Implementation must follow existing law and available funding. The United States will reassess the recommendations using findings from the HHS Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines.

The HHS Secretary must submit plans to the President through the domestic policy adviser. The plans concern core childhood vaccines, starting with MMR, and broader childhood vaccine safety and research. Plans may offer single-vaccine options while keeping combination vaccines and shared-decision vaccines available. Any schedule changes or research must follow applicable law. The order directs planning and assessment; it does not itself make the proposed vaccine or schedule changes. The plans are due within 90 days after August 10, 2026.

The Attorney General must take appropriate steps to support meritorious challenges to certain state vaccine laws, while three agencies must address compliance by their contractors and grantees. The directions concern parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, equal protection, and religious or medical exemptions where federal law requires them. Legal actions must involve state laws that conflict with constitutional or federal statutory duties. Agency actions must remain within existing legal authority and available funding. The order does not itself create a new exemption or enforceable legal right.