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Vaccines are prepared for students during a pop-up immunization clinic at the Newcomer Academy in Louisville, Ky., on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. Credit: Mary Conlon / AP File Photo

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced updates to its recommendations for childhood vaccines on Jan. 5. In the aftermath, Connecticut elected officials have been communicating the implications to the public, including assuring parents who may be confused about how the changes affect their child’s scheduled vaccinations.

Here’s what to know about the changes and how they impact the way vaccinations are done and paid for in Connecticut.

What changes were made to the CDC’s childhood vaccine recommendations?

At the end of 2024, the CDC’s childhood vaccination schedule recommended 17 immunizations for all children. On Jan. 5, that changed to 11 broadly recommended vaccines: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), Pneumococcal conjugate, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, human papillomavirus (HPV), and chickenpox.

Some vaccines are recommended to high risk groups: RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, two types of bacterial meningitis, and dengue. Finally, the CDC says that for children who are not high risk, the decision as to whether to administer vaccines for rotavirus, COVID, the flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and bacterial meningitis should be left up to “shared clinical decision-making,” or conversations between people and their doctors. 

The CDC’s recommendations are not requirements and families have a choice as to whether they continue to follow the previous vaccine schedule, the new recommendations, or some combination of the two.

Why were these changes made?

Major changes to leadership have been made over the past year at the Department of Health and Human Services, including to the panel of experts that provides recommendations on vaccines. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr has long promoted views that cast doubt on the safety of vaccines. He has also advanced the idea that vaccines are linked to climbing autism rates, although the majority of health experts say there is no proven link between vaccines and autism.

In December, President Donald Trump directed HHS to align the childhood vaccine schedule with peer advice and the schedule of other developed countries. The new recommendations are more closely aligned with Denmark’s schedule, according to HHS, but U.S. experts say the comparison is misguided since the two countries have little in common when it comes to the spread of preventable diseases like hepatitis B.

How have Connecticut officials responded?

Connecticut Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, along with other public health officials, have affirmed that Connecticut’s vaccine recommendations have not changed. That means children must be fully up to date on the Connecticut vaccine schedule to enroll in public school, a list identical to the previous federal schedule.

No religious exemptions are allowed; only medical exemptions via a certificate from a health care provider allow children enrolled in Connecticut public schools to forgo vaccines.

In short, yes. In a fact sheet published recently, the federal government clarified that, despite the recommendation changes, all vaccines would continue to be available to anyone who wants them through Affordable Care Act plans, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Vaccines for Children program. 

“Families will not have to purchase them out of pocket. Among peer nations, the U.S. will continue to offer the most childhood vaccines for free to those who want them,” stated the fact sheet.

Interim state insurance commissioner Josh Hershman reiterated this message to Connecticut residents on Jan. 6. 

“The vaccines referenced in the CDC announcement were not removed from the immunization schedule. Instead, they were moved from a routine recommendation to clinical decision-making recommendation,” Hershman stated. “Because these vaccines remain on the CDC schedule, they continue to be covered by health insurance plans regulated by the CID.”

However, KFF Health News has reported that because the CDC has changed its recommendation for the HPV vaccine from two doses to one, insurance companies are no longer required to cover the second dose.

Why does it matter if the CDC changes its recommendations?

According to health care professionals, including Juthani, the changes to the vaccine schedule have a number of concerning repercussions. For one, some of the vaccines that are no longer recommended by the CDC can prevent diseases that cause serious illness and even death.

There are also concerns, officials say, that the motivations for changing the schedule are misguided and based on bad science.

While all 17 vaccines are still required for students enrolled in Connecticut public schools, some families outside of that system may opt-out. As federal authorities and states diverge on their recommendations, communities may see a resurgence of preventable illnesses like hepatitis B, which is easily spread through bodily fluids. “Remember all 17 of these diseases are worth protecting your child against,” Juthani said at a press conference on Jan. 12.

“We really don’t need to go backwards,” said Dr. Robert Dudley, a longtime pediatrician of the Community Health Center of New Britain, recalling a serious RSV season he saw at the beginning of his career. “We don’t want to see those days, nothing made me happier than seeing a vaccine come out that mothers could take, infants could take, people over 50 could take to keep them from getting this horrible disease.”

Laura Tillman is CT Mirror’s Human Services Reporter. She shares responsibility for covering housing, child protection, mental health and addiction, developmental disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. Laura began her career in journalism at the Brownsville Herald in 2007, covering the U.S.–Mexico border, and worked as a statehouse reporter for the Associated Press in Mississippi. She was most recently a producer of the national security podcast “In the Room with Peter Bergen” and is the author of two nonfiction books: The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts (2016) and The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia (2023), which was just awarded the 2024 James Beard Award for literary writing. Her freelance work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. Laura holds a degree in International Studies from Vassar College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Goucher College.

Katy Golvala is CT Mirror's health reporter. Originally from New Jersey, Katy earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Mathematics from Williams College and received a master’s degree in Business and Economic Journalism from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in August 2021. Her work experience includes roles as a Business Analyst at A.T. Kearney, a Reporter and Researcher at Investment Wires, and a Reporter at Inframation, covering infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean.