Congress urged to protect children’s vaccine access after sweeping HHS schedule changes
January 2026
More than 300 national, state, and local health organizations are urging Congress to conduct swift and robust oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services’ abrupt changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule announced on January 5, 2026.
The letter warns that these changes put children’s health, vaccine access, and public trust at risk, and calls on lawmakers to act quickly to protect coverage for all previously recommended immunizations, including through the Vaccines for Children program.
The signatories emphasize that the revised schedule was not based on credible scientific evidence and bypassed the transparent, expert-driven process traditionally used to evaluate vaccine recommendations.
Longstanding U.S. immunization guidance has been extraordinarily effective, preventing an estimated 508 million illnesses, 32 million hospitalizations, and more than 1 million deaths since 1994.
Instead of following that evidence, HHS announced a new framework that downgrades or removes routine recommendations for multiple vaccines, including influenza, COVID-19, rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, meningococcal disease, and RSV.
The letter warns that these changes will create confusion for families and clinicians, weaken insurance coverage and liability protections, and lead to lower vaccination rates – outcomes that are both foreseeable and preventable. The consequences could include more hospitalizations and deaths, setbacks in disease control, and reduced community protection for infants and people with compromised immune systems.
The organizations urge Congress to investigate why scientific evidence was ignored, why expert advisory processes were sidelined, and how these changes threaten the nation’s vaccine infrastructure and children’s health.
