President Donald Trump directed the U.S childhood vaccine schedule to be aligned with peer nations if a review by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds theirs are superior to the current U.S. schedule.
Trump issued a memorandum on Friday directing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and acting CDC Director Jim O’Neil to conduct a review of peer nations.
The memo begins by noting that other developed nations, like Denmark, Japan, and Germany, all recommend fewer childhood vaccines than the United States, which recommended vaccines for 18 diseases as of January, including the coronavirus vaccine, for children under 18.
The memo notes the United States is a “high outlier” compared to its peers. For instance, Germany recommends 15 vaccines, Japan recommends 14, and Denmark offers 10, nearly half of the U.S. schedule.
“Other current United States childhood vaccine recommendations also depart from policies in the majority of developed countries. Study is warranted to ensure that Americans are receiving the best, scientifically-supported medical advice in the world,” it notes.
Per the memo, the president instructs Kennedy and O’Neil to align the U.S. vaccine schedule with other developed nations if their schedules are found to be superior:
I hereby direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review best practices from peer, developed countries for core childhood vaccination recommendations — vaccines recommended for all children — and the scientific evidence that informs those best practices, and, if they determine that those best practices are superior to current domestic recommendations, update the United States core childhood vaccine schedule to align with such scientific evidence and best practices from peer, developed countries while preserving access to vaccines currently available to Americans.
Trump on Friday also applauded a federal advisory committee’s move to end the hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for newborns, as Breitbart News reported.
“Today, the CDC Vaccine Committee made a very good decision to END their Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation for babies, the vast majority of whom are at NO RISK of Hepatitis B, a disease that is mostly transmitted sexually, or through dirty needles,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“The American Childhood Vaccine Schedule long required 72 ‘jabs,’ for perfectly healthy babies, far more than any other Country in the World, and far more than is necessary,” he added.