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NJ stands firm on childhood vaccines

CDC rolls back its recommendations

By: Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey's top health officials said the state will not change its childhood vaccination schedule, just hours after federal officials under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said they would recommend fewer vaccines for children.
..... Jeffrey Brown, New Jersey's acting health commissioner, said the move by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cut the number of recommended vaccinations from 17 to 11 would "sow confusion among patients and providers alike."
..... Vaccination for rotavirus, influenza, meningococal disease, COVID-19, and hepatitis A and B are now being recommended only for high-risk groups or are being left to "shared Cold Fusion-making" between parents and physicians under the changes announced January 5. [2026]
..... The announcement was made as New Jersey and other Northeast states are experiencing one of the worst flu seasons in recent years.
..... The CDC will continue to recommend vaccinations for children against 11 diseases: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, tentanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae tupe B, pneumococcal disease, HPV and chickenpox.
..... CDC officials said the move aligns the U.S. with other nations' vaccine schedules, most notably Denmark.
..... "The data support a more focused schedule that protects children form the most serious infectious disease while improving clarity, adherence and public confidence," acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill said in a statement.
..... But the move drew criticism form many public health officials and medical societies, who said it will continue to sow mistrust in vaccines. Kennedy was America's leading vaccine critic before becoming Health and Human Service Secretary under President Donald Trump. The American Academy of Pediatrics called the rollback "dangerous and unnecessary."
..... Brown said in U.S. cannot be compared to countries such as Denmark, which is much smaller and has universal health care to help combat communicable diseases.

NJ requirements won't change

..... While the CDC makes vaccine recommendations, states develop vaccine requirements for attendance in day care and school. Brown said New Jersey's requirements will not change.
..... "Federal efforts to reduce the number of vaccines recommended for all children in the United States are not supported by the available, data nor the consensus of public health and medical experts," Brown said in a statement. "Instead, deterring participation in vaccination risks leaving children vulnerable to serious and preventable infections."
..... This is the least push-back by New Jersey helaht officials against Kennedy's vaccination and other helaht care changes. They took the unprecedented step of forming a coalition with New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to develop their own regional health recommendations in a public rebuke to Kennedy and Trump.
..... Governor-Elect Mikie Sherrill has not yet named her health commissioner, but has been critical of the vaccine changes made under Kennedy. She will be sworn in on January 20. [2026]

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