In a major departure from past practice, the CDC is scaling back the number of recommended vaccines for children, reducing it from 17 to 11.

The new schedule recommends that flu and COVID vaccines only be given after consulting with a health care provider.

It also narrows recommendations for hepatitis A and B, RSV, and bacterial meningitis to what it considers higher risk groups.

The decision aligns the U.S. more closely with Denmark and Japan, something that HHS Secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long wanted. And it follows a directive from President Trump just

one month ago to move in that direction. There are major concerns about what this could all mean.

And for more on that, we're joined now by Dr. Sean O'Leary, a pediatric infectious disease

specialist at the University of Colorado and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

So before we get to the impact, I want to know more about how we got here. What should we know about how this decision was made and who was involved in it?

Yeah, you know, this was really arbitrary. And this, let me be clear, this was not from any CDC

scientists. This was really a political move. You know, as you may know, our HHS secretary has for decades really been a leader in spreading

falsehoods and, frankly, you know, lies about vaccines.

And, you know, now he's running our health care system.

And so this, what we saw today is just one more step in his ongoing dismantling of the U.S. vaccination program.

So what's the potential impact of narrowing the vaccination schedule? What has pediatricians so concerned?

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, what diseases does he want to see children suffer from?

I mean, that's what we're talking about here. The vaccines that he is scaling back are vaccines

that save lives that prevent thousands of hospitalizations. So, you know, I would ask the secretary,

what diseases do you want to see children suffer from?

I really don't understand this move.

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