FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Doctors for America
PO Box: 21161
2300 18th St NW Lbby
Washington, DC 20009-9996
January 6, 2026
Doctors for America Condemns Overhaul of U.S. Childhood Vaccine Schedule
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Doctors for America is deeply concerned about yesterday’s announcement regarding the reckless overhaul of the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule by the current Administration. These changes were seemingly made by political appointees and without transparent review by established scientific advisory bodies or professional medical organizations. As physician advocates, we speak for clinicians who practice shared-decision making every day as a cornerstone of medical practice. Clear, evidence-based recommendations developed by vaccine experts whom clinicians and families can trust, are critical to ensuring that physicians are equipped with the best information to counsel their patients and engage in a dialogue to promote the best care for each individual. The proposed changes will only lead to confusion among patients and clinicians, ultimately driving vaccination rates below levels that protect public health, and leaving children – along with their immunocompromised caregivers – vulnerable to preventable diseases that can have life-threatening and debilitating consequences.
Decades of evidence have repeatedly demonstrated that the current vaccine schedule is safe, effective, and critical for protecting children and communities. High vaccination rates protect all patients by reducing the spread and outbreak of infectious diseases in communities. Drops in vaccination rates increase the risk of infection with a preventable illness for all people, and put our most vulnerable patients – infants, children, and immunocompromised patients – at higher risk of serious illness and death. The pediatric vaccine schedule as we have known it is the product of decades of regular, rigorous review and updating by scientists and medical experts with expertise in vaccination and public health. This established, expert-driven process ensures that vaccine guidelines are based on the most up-to-date data and informed by the epidemiologic and public health environment that Americans live in. Basing the U.S. vaccine schedule on other countries, while ignoring fundamental differences in health care access and delivery between nations, is short-sighted, misleading, and dangerous. Each country must tailor their schedule to the diseases that impact their population using years of public health data to guide decisions.
The profound overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule represents a dangerous departure from decades of evidence-based vaccine recommendations and threatens the trust of families and clinicians who rely on federal guidance during the critical early years of childhood health care. If such a sweeping change is to be made, the data, analyses and scientific rationale supporting it must be publicly disclosed and subject to independent, rigorous review. This administration has promised radical transparency while repeatedly making policy decisions that are neither transparent nor evidence-based. Without this transparency, the decision appears arbitrary, rather than data-driven, and jeopardizes public confidence in the federal health agencies whose responsibility it is to guide health policy to protect the public. Health policy must be rooted in science, not politics. We urge the administration to fulfill their process of radical transparency and publicly release the evidence informing this decision so families and clinicians can make informed, evidence-based decisions that prioritize the health and well-being of children.
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About Doctors for America
Doctors for America (DFA) is a national nonprofit that mobilizes over 40,000 physicians and medical trainees to advocate for policies that improve the health of patients and communities. Through advocacy training and action at the state and federal levels, DFA works to expand access to affordable care, strengthen community health and prevention efforts, and advance health justice and equity. We do not accept funding from pharmaceutical, insurance, or for-profit health care entities, ensuring our work remains fiercely independent and patient-centered. DFA puts patients over politics—and over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on Twitter drsforamerica or Bluesky drsforamerica.bsky.social.