With Flu Rates Soaring, Why Did RFK’s CDC Stop Recommending The Vaccine For Kids? | EUROtoday

In the midst of what might be one of the crucial extreme flu seasons on document, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s CDC has ceased recommending all youngsters get vaccinated for the seasonal flu, together with 5 different beforehand advisable vaccines.

Guided by RFK Jr.’s hand-picked, anti-vaccine advisory committee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new childhood vaccine schedule diminished its suggestions from 17 immunizations to 11 on Monday.

Rather than cite knowledge, Kennedy Jr. stated the choice was made to higher align the U.S. with “peer, developed nations” ― citing Denmark, particularly, which immunizes youngsters towards 10 illnesses in comparison with the 18 beforehand advisable within the United States.

The determination baffled consultants exterior RFK Jr.’s purview.

“There is no scientific evidence supporting the change in recommendations, and therefore, Mr. Kennedy was unable to provide any,” stated Beth Jacobs, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and professor emerita from the University of Arizona who has studied vaccine refusal.

Jacobs can also be a founding member of Defend Public Health, a volunteer community of well being professionals combating well being misinformation.

“Instead, HHS said that fewer people getting vaccinated was a reason for the change,” she stated. “You do not need to be a scientist to know that this is nonsensical, and I do not believe that the changes reflect the opinions of expert CDC scientists.”

CDC’s flu vaccine downgrade coincides with a pointy spike in hospitalizations for flu-like sickness throughout the nation, knowledge launched Monday by the CDC reveals.

The company estimates there have been 120,000 hospitalizations thus far this season, almost a 50% improve in comparison with the prior week. Around 8% of well being care supplier visits throughout that interval had been for flu-like signs, the very best since 1997, when the CDC first began monitoring that knowledge.

While the 2025/2026 flu vaccine isn’t as efficient at combating this season’s flu pressure because it has been in prior years, it stays remarkably efficient at maintaining youngsters from getting severely ailing.

Compared with their non-vaccinated friends, knowledge collected in England present that youngsters who obtained the flu vaccine this 12 months are nonetheless 72-75% much less prone to be hospitalized with the illness.

“It is not too late to get vaccinated,” stated Jacobs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics now releases its personal, evidence-based immunization schedule that Jacobs recommends mother and father observe as a substitute.

Another vaccine the CDC now now not unanimously recommends for kids is hepatitis B, a shot administered routinely since 1991 that’s drastically diminished the incidence of lifelong illnesses like most cancers, liver failure and cirrhosis.

Also on the listing: rotavirus. In Denmark, RFK Jr.’s mannequin nation, the diarrhea-causing virus hospitalizes eight instances extra youngsters than it does within the U.S., the place, till yesterday, all youngsters had been advisable to get the vaccine:

In addition to hepatitis B, rotavirus and influenza, the CDC additionally now not recommends widespread vaccination for hepatitis A, sure types of meningitis, and RSV.

“This is but another cannon shot at a load-bearing wall in the U.S. vaccination program,” mirrored Jacobs. “Not only will Kennedy’s actions put kids at greater risk for serious illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases, he is also further undermining trust in public health and causing unnecessary confusion by forcing guidance that is contrary to the scientific evidence.”