US cuts to number of recommended childhood vaccines will allow disease to spread, experts say

The Trump administration will slash routine vaccine recommendations during childhood from 17 to 11 jabs – the biggest change to vaccines yet under the purview of longtime vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr.The changes, which US health officials announced on Monday afternoon and are effective immediately, will erode trust and reduce access to vaccines while allowing infectious diseases to spread, experts said.“The goal of this administration is to basically make vaccines optional,” said Paul Offit, a former member of the advisory committee on vaccines for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “And we’re paying the price.”Some of the previously recommended vaccines will now only be available for “high-risk” individuals, while others are to be designated as “shared clinical decision-making,” which are usually only available with a doctor’s recommendation.The jabs to prevent influenza, rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other vaccines are no longer fully recommended.The revised vaccine schedule will look similar to that of Denmark’s.The US is on the cusp of losing its measles elimination status amid the biggest outbreak in three decades. There have been more tetanus cases in the past year than more than in a decade, and more pertussis deaths than the US has seen in years.