The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday dropped some childhood vaccine recommendations, reducing its immunization schedule from 17 vaccines to 11. The agency’s acting director, Jim O’Neill, approved the changes based on a review of other developed nations’ vaccination practices and consensuses, according to a CDC memo.

A Dec. 5 presidential memorandum spurred the review. It found that before Monday’s changes, the United States recommended several more childhood vaccines than did 20 other developed countries. The changes were intended to increase public trust in consensus vaccines and improve vaccine uptake, according to the memo.

What are some of the vaccinations that were dropped? The new plan moves some vaccines previously recommended for all children and adolescents—including for the flu, hepatitis A and B, COVID-19, and rotavirus—to a new category. Those vaccines are now only recommended for children if a health provider thinks they would be beneficial and they align with a recipient’s needs and values, according to the memo. The CDC is also recommending that children in high-risk groups continue to receive the hepatitis vaccines, along with several shots for meningococcal problems, RSV, and dengue fever.

Which vaccines are still recommended for every child?

• Measles
• Mumps
• Rubella
• Diphtheria
• Tetanus
• Pertussis
• Polio
• Haemophilus influenzae type B
• Pneumococcal disease
• Human papillomavirus
• Varicella

This story originally appeared in WORLD. © 2026, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.