On Jan. 7, Dartmouth Health rejected the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s new childhood vaccine guidelines in favor of the vaccine schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to an email statement from Dartmouth Health pediatrics department chair Keith Loud.
This comes after the CDC announced that it would cut the number of recommended vaccines for children from 17 to 11, doing away with immunizations against hepatitis A and B, COVID-19 and influenza.
In his statement, Loud wrote that he was “disappointed” by the new CDC recommendations.
“There is no evidence suggesting harms from the previous CDC-recommended 2024 vaccine schedule,” Loud said.
The new vaccine schedule follows a presidential memorandum in which President Donald Trump directed the CDC to update U.S. childhood vaccine policy by evaluating how other developed nations schedule vaccinations.
In a web statement explaining the new recommendations, the Department of Health and Human Services cited a scientific study that found that the U.S. schedules more vaccines for children than any other developed country.
“The updated CDC recommended immunizations for all children and adolescents will maintain robust protection against diseases that cause serious morbidity or mortality to children,” the HHS statement said.
Geisel School of Medicine microbiology and immunology professor Steven Fiering said there has been a “large step” away from purely scientific recommendations, citing a “political effort to disparage vaccines.”
CDC vaccine recommendations are formulated by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, which is a panel of experts appointed by the DHHS, according to The New York Times. In June 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 sitting members of ACIP, according to The New York Times.
Geisel pediatrics professor Cody Meissner is a member of the national ACIP. During a vote that would recommend against flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a controversial preservative that contains mercury, Meissner was the only member of the committee to vote against the new recommendation. Meissner is the only pediatrician on ACIP.
Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice director Amber Barnato called Meissner’s rejection of the new CDC recommendations an “act of moral courage” that puts Dartmouth in a “prominent” position.
“I believe that our medical students should be trained to be able to see that there is relatively flimsy evidence behind some of the claims that are underpinning the concerns regarding adverse effects of vaccination,” Barnato said. “So that’s one responsibility that Dartmouth has.”
Barnato added that conflicting childhood vaccine guidelines may disproportionately impact parents with less education.
“People who have higher levels of education, higher levels of self-efficacy may be able to engage in that [vaccination] conversation with a pediatrician,” Barnato said. “Folks who have lower levels of education may have a harder time having that shared decision-making conversation.”
