The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced in a statement on Jan. 16 that the state will continue to follow the established childhood vaccine schedule instead of adapting the new reduced schedule released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 5.
“Lots of local health organizations are looking at [the CDC schedule] right now,” Children’s Mercy pediatrician Dr. Angela Myers said. “This is a big departure from previous recommendations.”
A vaccine schedule shows physicians which vaccines children should receive at certain ages. According to Immunization Program Manager of the KDHE RaNae Allen, the Kansas and CDC schedules were aligned for years, and the changes on Jan. 5 were shocking for the department.
“We are concerned,” Allen said. “We are watching for guidance from the state.”
The new CDC schedule cuts recommendations for six vaccines protecting against serious and potentially fatal infections, such as rotavirus and hepatitis A and B. According to the CDC, the changes aim to align the US schedule in line with those of developed European countries like Denmark.
The vaccinations for hepatitis A and B, influenza, meningitis, respiratory syncytial virus and rotavirus have been recategorized as only for high-risk groups or under “shared clinical decision making.” “Shared clinical decision making” involves a parent consulting with the physician or nurse to decide on whether the child should receive the vaccine.
The changes to the schedule are the latest in a series of department reforms spearheaded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the past year. The CDC’s Acting Director Jim O’Neill wrote that the revised guidelines aim to “decrease coercion” and will be used to research the effects of vaccination.
As the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reviews the new schedule, they recommend that healthcare providers follow organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, which continues to recommend the old schedule. The department wrote in their statement that “vaccines remain one of the most effective tools for preventing serious infectious diseases, and decades of rigorous studies have shown they are safe and effective.”
Although local hospitals, like Children's Mercy, continue to follow the AAP guidelines, Myer worries that vaccine exemptions could increase statewide due to a conflicting perspective from the CDC.
“When the exemptions increase, the baseline rate of vaccination goes down,” Myers said. “When that happens, we run the risk of having huge resurgences of disease. We’ve seen it this past year [since] we’ve had an entire year now with measles circulating in the United States.”
Kansas currently allows vaccine exemptions for children for religious reasons, with a nonmedical exemption rate of 3.3%, according to KFF, a health policy outlet. Last year, the state passed a bill expanding the definition of “religious reasons.”
At the Village Church Child and Family Development Center where junior Margo Billingsley works, Billingsley noticed how serious RSV — one of the infections no longer recommended for vaccination — can be. A wave this past winter caused widespread infection and severe symptoms among the young children.
“There was an entire class of one and two-year-olds that got ‘wiped out,’ like there were only three of them left, because the rest of them had RSV,” Billingsley said. “We [had] to send them home every single day because they would always have fevers.”
Meningitis is another vaccine that has been recategorized as only for high-risk groups in the new schedule. Although uncommon, it can infect and kill a child in less than a day, according to Myers.
Myers stresses that the targeted vaccinations have been vetted over decades and thousands of clinical trials, and that they are both safe and effective. She emphasizes that the risk of forgoing the vaccine includes both the possibility of infection and of passing the disease to other children. Similarly, increased infections and hospitalizations could increase the burden on hospitals, according to Myers.
Six leading healthcare organizations are trying to block the schedule changes in court, including the AAP. They argue that the changes are unscientific and may harm the public.
“It’s mind-blowing that we are taking away things that we know work, and keep children healthy, prevent hospitalizations and in some instances, prevent death,” Myers said.
Great article. Thanks for shining a light on this insanity.