How CDC vaccine guidance changes for children affect your next pediatrician visit

For parents, visits to the pediatrician could bring new confusion now that the CDC has overhauled its recommended childhood vaccines.

For parents of young children, visits to the pediatrician could involve new challenges and confusion now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has drastically overhauled its recommended childhood immunizations.

The agency on Monday shortened the list of vaccines recommended for all children, dropping the number of diseases targeted from 18 to 11 — an unprecedented change that conflicts with guidance from medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The new schedule separates vaccines into three categories: universally recommended shots, vaccines for high-risk groups and vaccines recommended based on shared clinical decision-making between patients and doctors. Covid and flu shots, for example, now fall into that third category, while infant RSV shots are only recommended for high-risk groups.

Many families are likely to have questions about which shots their kids are eligible for — with answers that are not always straightforward. The changes may require parents to track their children’s immunization schedules more closely, rather than relying on reminders from a pediatrician. The overhaul is unlikely to affect insurance coverage, however.

Here’s what parents should know, according to interviews with doctors, infectious disease experts, insurance companies and health policy experts.