After federal health officials on Monday reduced recommended childhood vaccines from 17 diseases to 11, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced no modifications to immunization schedules or vaccine availability for residents.
State guidelines for childhood vaccine availability and dosing remain in place, according to the county.
On Monday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced changes to childhood vaccine recommendations. The 11 remaining diseases recommended for vaccination are diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis or whooping cough, polio, haemophilus influenza type b or hib, pneumococcal disease, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and HPV with one vaccine dose instead of two.
Vaccines to help prevent hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, RSV, rotavirus and COVID-19 or the flu are recommended for certain populations or situations, requiring discussion with a doctor, according to the CDC.
The recommendation reduction occurred “after a scientific review of the underlying science, comparing the U.S. child and adolescent immunization schedule with those of peer, developed nations,” the CDC reported.
County officials defended the current guidelines from the California Department of Public Health and blasted their federal counterparts.
“This is another example of federal health officials sowing confusion and doubt about trusted measures that have protected children from disease for decades,” according to LA County health officials.
“There is no new scientific evidence indicating that the existing childhood vaccination schedule is ineffective or unsafe,” the county statement said. “The current (state) guidelines are based on decades of rigorous research, ongoing safety monitoring, and transparent scientific review designed to protect children from serious and preventable diseases. This body of evidence consistently demonstrates that the recommended schedule provides early, effective protection during the periods when children are most vulnerable to severe disease. Any changes to immunization recommendations should be grounded in clear scientific evidence and a transparent decision-making process to maintain public trust and safeguard community health.”
Federal health officials said the changes give people “more flexibility and choice, with less coercion, by reassigning non-consensus vaccines to certain high-risk groups or populations and shared clinical decision-making.”
According to the CDC, “Trust in U.S. public health declined from 72% to 40% between 2020 and 2024, coinciding with public health failure during the pandemic, including COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Though the COVID-19 vaccine was recommended for all children on the CDC schedule, the uptake rate was less than 10% by 2023. The uptake rate of other childhood vaccines declined during the same time period.”
County health officials said the CDC’s comparison with recommendations in smaller countries is “misleading.”
Instead, the county health department argued that “comparisons to childhood vaccine schedules in other countries must be viewed in the context of population demographics, local public health infrastructure, healthcare access, and disease prevalence. Variation among international schedules is not a scientific justification for altering a vaccination schedule that has been proven safe and effective over decades. International immunization schedules often differ because countries face distinct disease burdens, healthcare infrastructure challenges, and population health needs. These differences do not indicate that the U.S. schedule is excessive or unnecessary, but rather that vaccination programs are appropriately tailored to local public health conditions.
Regarding the diseases no longer on the top-tier recommendation list, CDC officials said, “It is not always possible for public health authorities to clearly define who will benefit from an immunization, who has the relevant risk factors, or who is at risk for exposure. Physicians and parents, who know the child, are then best equipped to decide based on individual characteristics.”
The county health department countered that “the decision by federal officials to dramatically change the vaccine schedule without any transparency or input from subject matter experts in vaccine preventable diseases in the United States will lead to confusion and increased administrative burdens on parents and pediatric providers. Ultimately, this chaos and ongoing revisions to established and data-driven health policies may affect the health of children and increase the risk and prevalence of vaccine preventable diseases.”
The county Department of Public Health will monitor guidance from CDPH and advised individuals with questions about vaccine recommendations to contact their health care provider.
More information on vaccine recommendations and how to obtain vaccines, visit: ph.lacounty.gov/vaccines.
