Dec 26, 2025
3 min read
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning to revise the schedule of vaccines recommended for children in the United States, a person familiar with the plans said Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to review the schedule of recommended vaccines for children in the United States, a person familiar with the plans said Thursday.
The proposed new table recommends less weight, closer to what is recommended in other developed countries.The American schedule is expected to be close, if not identical, to the recommendations in Denmark, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
The plan has not been finalized and is subject to change, the person said.
An HHS spokeswoman declined to comment, referring questions to the agency's earlier announcement that it would delay the "child health report" until next year.
The planned overhaul comes weeks after President Donald Trump ordered officials to review the childhood vaccination schedule and recommend fewer shots.
"Funny!"Trump wrote earlier this month in a post on Social Truth about the current schedule of the US."That's why I just signed a presidential memo directing the Department of Health and Human Services to 'FAST TRACK' a comprehensive review of immunization schedules from other countries around the world and better align the U.S. immunization schedule."
Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded in a message to X: "Thank you, Mr. President. We've come this far."
'a bit of a head scratcher'
Denmark's vaccination plan for 2025, published by the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that the country vaccinates children less against infectious diseases than the United States.
Denmark currently does not recommend vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, for children;The United States does.RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in infants.
Also, rotavirus, hepatitis A, meningococcal, influenza, or chickenpox vaccines are not recommended for children, even though these vaccines are on the US schedule.
"Why would we want to follow that?" asked Dr. Paul Offit, director of the vaccine education center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a sponsor of the rotavirus vaccine.
Dr. Peter Hotez, a pediatrician who leads the Vaccine Development Center at Texas Children's Hospital, called the plan "a little scratch."
The administration's emphasis on "Denmark's socialist system and general health care ... is interesting but out of place" with his rhetoric, he said in a text message.
"It's more likely that this is part of a consistent effort by DHHS to make vaccines unavailable to Americans. They chose Denmark because it has the lowest vaccine coverage of any Western country. And by switching to the Danish system, it gives them an opportunity to deprive Americans of vaccines against bacterial meningitis and rotavirus, which are the main causes of morbidity and mortality in their children. Homesickness is not done in the US," he said.
"It's superficial, ideological and lacks curiosity. DHHS in this administration doesn't care if kids get sick as long as it meets their ideological goals."
United States vs. Denmark
Dr. Tracy Bethhoeg, the newly named acting director of the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, presented on Denmark's vaccine schedule at this month's meeting of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisors.
"I think one of the reasons Denmark can do a better job of implementing its vaccine recommendations is that this is not a political debate," said Hoeg, who has dual US and Danish citizenship.She described a multiparty system, a culture of debate and a strong acceptance of the known and the unknown.
Hogg explained that exposure to aluminum is less with small vaccines, which is used as an adjuvant - a substance added to create a stronger immune response.It is used in many childhood vaccinations because it allows doctors to give a smaller dose, which requires a smaller dose of vaccine.Despite extensive evidence that the use of aluminum-containing adjuvants in vaccines is safe, Kennedy argued that aluminum in vaccines has been linked to allergies and other health conditions.
Infectious disease experts said what makes sense for Denmark doesn't make sense for the United States.
"Because we don't live in Denmark, we don't follow the Danish vaccine recommendations. Children in the US are susceptible to different diseases than children in other countries."
During the CDC meeting, Dr. Adam Langer, the agency's hepatitis B expert, questioned the Denmark comparison before the major change in hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants.
"The United States is a unique country," he began.In Denmark, he pointed out, "the whole country has 6 million people. The population of New York City alone is 8 million people."
Other differences noted by Lange include:
- More than 95% of pregnant women in Denmark diagnosed with hepatitis B, "much higher than the number in the United States."
- Maternity care in Denmark is free "for both citizens and refugees or asylum seekers in Denmark. We all know that is not the case in America."
- Denmark has a national health registry that collects health information at the individual level;"This does not exist in the United States, and I think our culture of privacy would never allow us to have something like this."
- In Denmark, pregnant women who test positive for the hepatitis B virus are followed up with all their newborns to make sure they are vaccinated and tested for the virus, while in the US, "many of these babies are not followed up after they leave the hospital."
"Denmark, and for that matter, virtually every other high-income country, is not exactly an equal country," Langer concluded.
Hogg responded that changes in the health care system did not change the rate of harm to infants.
"As a mother of children who were born in Denmark, when they moved to the United States, they were at low risk there, the risk was low here. I did not understand why you can use vaccines in one country but not another country because of the same risk," he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a vaccine included in the Danish children's schedule was not included in the schedule.
