Recently, President Trump signed an executive order that drastically reduces the recommended childhood vaccine schedule. The new recommendations mark a significant shift from the schedule that has been in place for years, and are prompting renewed conversation about which vaccines children need and when they should receive them.
Dr. John Oertle: Healthcare Decisions Should Remain With Families and Their Providers
America’s HealthShare Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Oertle welcomed the shift toward greater individual decision-making, emphasizing that changing federal recommendations does not mean limiting families’ access to vaccines:
Good medicine should preserve options and put patients, parents, and healthcare providers at the center of medical decision-making. Moving away from a one-size-fits-all federal recommendation does not mean eliminating access. It means recognizing that some healthcare decisions are better made through informed, shared clinical decision-making between families and their trusted healthcare providers.
I support policies that preserve access while strengthening informed consent, patient options, and the physician-patient relationship.
What Does the Order Entail?
At the press conference to sign the new executive order, President Trump explained:
Effective immediately, my administration is recognizing gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases. We want the MMR in three separate vaccinations given at separate times.
Under the new recommendations, routine childhood immunizations focus on 11 diseases, while several other vaccines are recommended based on individual risk or shared decision-making between families and their healthcare providers. Vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, HPV, and chickenpox remain in the core recommendations.
Vaccines against several other diseases, including influenza, COVID-19, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, bacterial meningitis, and RSV, are no longer universally recommended for all children. Depending on the vaccine, a child may still receive it if it is determined by the parent or caretaker and healthcare professional that it is necessary for the well-being of the child.
Our Commitment to the Health and Well-Being of Every Member of Your Family
At American’s HealthShare, we are committed to providing our Members and their families with healthcare that is in the best interest of their overall well-being. We believe that families should not have to require their children to be subjected to medicines or vaccines that could compromise that overall health. We also share into vaccine injuries, should they occur. For more information about how you can join the America’s HealthShare community, please check pricing online or give our Member Care team a call today at (580) AMERI-HS.
