Trump directs CDC to align with assessment calling for fewer childhood vaccines

President Trump signed an executive order Friday that directs the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to align with a scientific assessment released earlier this year by the Department of Health and Human Services that calls for fewer childhood vaccines. The move comes after Mr. Trump in December issued a memo directing HHS to align U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations with "best practices from peer, developed countries." In early January, HHS released an assessment that determined the U.S. "recommends more childhood vaccines than any peer nation, and more than twice as many vaccine doses as some European nations." Following that assessment, the CDC, which is part of HHS, announced updated recommendations in January that would reduce the number of recommended immunizations for children from 17 to 11. The move prompted heavy criticism from medical experts and health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics , which subsequently chose to release its own childhood vaccine recommendations, breaking significantly with the CDC guidance. …