Trump administration sparks midterms vaccine war

The Trump administration made good on its vows to upend childhood vaccinations just days into the new year, ensuring that public health will be a prominent midterm campaign issue.Why it matters: The slimmed-down vaccine schedule resembling Denmark's suggests that the administration is undaunted by public support for childhood vaccines — or by warnings about the return of preventable diseases.Driving the news: The U.S. is now only recommending that all kids receive 11 vaccines, with additional shots for high-risk children. Before Trump's second inauguration, the U.S. had recommended 17 vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that parents should consult with physicians before inoculating their children with previously recommended shots for six diseases, including rotavirus, COVID-19 and influenza. All vaccines previously recommended by the federal government will continue to be covered by insurers, officials said. "We are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent," said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health."The big picture: Such significant changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will have an impact on public health, one way or another. But they also all but ensure vaccines will be front and center in the political discourse.Administration officials maintain the decision — announced without any new data exactly one month after Trump demanded a review of the vaccine schedule — will actually restore public trust in vaccines, by focusing on what one called "the most important diseases."But many medical experts argue they'll have the exact opposite effect, an argument Democrats have quickly adopted as their own."Robert Kennedy, with Trump's blessing, is leading the country down a tragic path where more children die from preventable diseases," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement."It's going to endanger the health of our children and of our communities," Phil Huang, director of Dallas Health and Human Services, told Axios. What they're saying: Leaders of the country's top health organizations quickly lined up to condemn the changes, saying they were arbitrary and had no scientific justification. "Upending long-standing vaccine recommendations without transparent public review and engagement with external experts will undermine confidence in vaccines with the likely outcome of decreasing vaccination rates and increasing disease," said Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America."Instead of making America healthy again, these actions increase the risk of serious illness for all Americans, especially children," said John Crowley, CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. "Changes of this magnitude require careful review, expert and public input, and clear scientific justification. That level of rigor and transparency was not part of this decision," said Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, a trustee of the American Medical Association.What we're watching: The vaccine schedule change is likely to prompt litigation — either in the form of direct challenges to the schedule change or new vaccine injury lawsuits testing whether the revised recommendations have loosened federal liability protections for manufacturers.At least one Kennedy ally has argued that removing vaccines from the recommended list effectively allows people claiming vaccine injuries to directly sue manufacturers instead of go through a decades-old compensation process. But one senior Health and Human Services official told reporters on Monday that agency lawyers "have assured us there will be no changes in liability coverage to those vaccines."The bottom line: The administration has repeatedly argued that anyone who wants vaccines will continue to be able to get them.Whether that's true — and enough to politically inoculate Trump's health officials and their Republican allies — is a question that will play out over the next year.Maya Goldman contributed.