Trump order aims to cut number of diseases all children should be vaccinated against from 18 to 11

The order reaffirms the dramatic overhaul to the vaccine schedule that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this year. Those changes have been blocked in court.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday that aims to reduce the number of universally recommended vaccines for children — a move that reaffirms the dramatic overhaul Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this year, which has been blocked in court.

Similar to that vaccine schedule change, the new order recommends dropping the list of diseases that all children should be vaccinated against from 18 to 11. The other shots would be recommended for high-risk groups or subject to so-called shared clinical decision-making between parents and their children’s doctors.

The proposed changes, in theory, would not prohibit access to vaccines or limit insurance coverage. Rather, Kennedy said Monday that they are meant to give parents choices. The recommended childhood immunization schedule in the U.S. is not a mandate, though many schools and daycare centers follow the guidelines in crafting their own requirements.

The new order recommends that vaccines for Covid, rotavirus, the flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and bacterial meningitis be administered based on shared clinical decision-making.

A separate set of vaccines will remain recommended universally: those for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, HPV and chickenpox.