The federal government is weighing a redesign of its childhood vaccine playbook that would move it closer to Denmark's leaner schedule and step back from strongly recommending many shots, the Washington Post reports. According to two people familiar with internal talks, Trump administration officials are considering moving most routine childhood vaccines into a "shared clinical decision-making" category, in which parents are urged to consult medical professionals rather than follow blanket federal recommendations. Sources also spoke to outlets including CNN and the New York Times about the move.
The potential change follows President Trump's recent directive to study whether the United States, which recommends vaccines against 18 diseases in childhood, should cut back to be more in line with countries like Denmark, which targets about 10. Denmark does not routinely recommend childhood shots for flu, RSV, chickenpox, meningitis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, or rotavirus. Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon called reports of the new guidance "pure speculation," and sources say key details—including which vaccines might be downgraded—remain unsettled.
Public health experts warn that importing Denmark's approach is not straightforward. They note that Denmark's small, universal health system and strong prenatal care differ sharply from the United States, where access to care is uneven and one in four pregnant patients lack adequate prenatal services. Not to mention the fact that in all of Denmark there are just 6 million people—fewer than in New York City. "You don't just superimpose policies from other countries without context onto the United States," said former CDC official Demetre Daskalakis, calling the comparison poor science. Even a Danish health official said he doesn't understand the move, noting the US seems to be getting "crazier and crazier in public health from month to month."
Critics say expanding "talk-to-your-doctor" recommendations to vaccines long considered standard could wrongly signal that experts are divided and confuse both parents and physicians; many clinicians also do not realize that insurers must still cover vaccines under this model. The debate is unfolding as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of what he has called an "exploding vaccine schedule," oversees vaccine policy and as prominent skeptics of current recommendations, including HHS science officer Martin Kulldorff and FDA official Tracy Beth Hoeg, advise the administration. Vaccine advocates worry that dialing back firm federal endorsements could erode protection against diseases like influenza, which killed 280 US children in last year's flu season alone, and RSV, the leading cause of hospitalizations in infants.
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