US President Donald Trump has directed federal health agencies to re-examine the childhood immunisation schedule in the United States, arguing that the number of vaccines recommended for infants and young children has become excessive and requires a scientific reassessment. Announcing the move on Truth Social, Trump said he had signed a Presidential Memorandum ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a global comparison of vaccine schedules used in other countries and identify changes needed to “better align the US Vaccine Schedule” with what he described as the “gold standard of science and common sense.”
Trump welcomed a recent decision by the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee to withdraw its longstanding recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. He praised the reversal as a “very good decision” and suggested that routine hepatitis B vaccination for newborns made little sense because most infants face no exposure to the virus, which is typically transmitted through sexual contact or contaminated needles. Trump repeated his long-held criticism of what he views as an unnecessarily high number of childhood shots, claiming that American children are expected to receive 72 vaccine doses — far more than in any other country, and far more than he believes are medically required.
He said the planned review would be carried out urgently under the oversight of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CDC leadership, and expressed confidence that the agencies would implement corrections quickly for the benefit of the nation’s children. Trump characterised the reform as a long-overdue response to concerns raised by parents and scientists about the existing schedule, ending his announcement with the slogan “MAHA.”
The policy shift follows a controversial vote by the CDC advisory committee to discontinue the universal birth-dose recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine. The newly appointed panel argued that most newborns face low risk and that past safety studies need closer scrutiny. Under the proposed guidance, only babies whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B — or whose status is unknown — would receive the vaccine immediately after birth, while others could begin the course at two months if parents choose to delay.
The decision has drawn strong pushback from major medical associations, state health departments and insurers, all of which say they will continue to endorse and cover the birth dose. Public health experts warn that removing universal recommendations could weaken decades of progress in preventing hepatitis B transmission, pointing out that the disease can spread silently and that selective vaccination historically results in lower overall protection.
