Doctors Should Decide Vaccine Schedules, Not Politicians

I am writing to demand immediate legislative action to counter the recent executive order and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) guidance that arbitrarily alters the routine U.S. childhood vaccine schedule. This policy represents a dangerous bypass of rigorous, established medical standards. For decades, changes to public health guidelines have required transparent, peer-reviewed clinical data through the Evidence to Recommendations (EtR) framework. The HHS bypassed this process, choosing to remove routine recommendations for six vital vaccines—including Hepatitis B and Rotavirus—without presenting new clinical evidence to justify the reduction. When federal agencies substitute arbitrary administrative directives for rigorous medical science, the results are chaotic. The clinical consequences of reducing this standard of care are severe: - Hepatitis B: The birth dose prevents chronic infections that lead to liver cancer. Moving it to "shared clinical decision-making" guarantees a drop in coverage and an inevitable surge in preventable illness. - Rotavirus: This routine vaccine prevents tens of thousands of infant hospitalizations for severe dehydration every year. Lowering the standard of care will leave children unprotected. - Erosion of Public Trust: This top-down political directive has created massive confusion in our healthcare system, threatening to fuel broader skepticism around standard, lifesaving newborn care. The medical community has already sounded the alarm, and federal courts have temporarily stayed this directive in American Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy. However, we need a permanent legislative solution. Raising a family today is difficult enough without federal agencies undermining the medical consensus that keeps our children safe. I expect you to take the following concrete actions: 1. Use the power of the purse to defund any HHS or CDC initiatives aimed at implementing this executive order. 2. Pass legislation codifying the Evidence to Recommendations (EtR) framework, legally requiring federal agencies to base public health guidelines on peer-reviewed, clinical data rather than executive actions. 3. Protect the independence of the ACIP to ensure vaccine recommendations remain strictly in the hands of pediatric and immunological experts, free from political interference. Public health policy must be driven by rigorous clinical data, not shifting political winds. I will be tracking your response and actions on this critical issue closely.