{"id":91936,"date":"2026-01-07T03:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/91936\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T03:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:30:06","slug":"nyc-health-boss-rips-rfk-jr-for-cutting-back-on-childhood-vaccinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/91936\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC health boss rips RFK Jr. for cutting back on childhood vaccinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s public health boss ripped Robert Kennedy Jr.\u2019s decision to scale back <\/a>the number of vaccinations children are advised to receive to prevent illness, claiming the move will have fatal effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cRFK Jr.\u2019s revised childhood vaccination schedule will have deadly consequences,\u201d acting city Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse<\/a> said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, the RFK-led Centers for Disease Control no longer recommends childhood vaccination for six illnesses: hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal disease, rotavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s acting city Health Commissioner, Dr. Michelle Morse, called out Robert Kennedy Jr.\u2019s decision to scale back the number of vaccinations children are advised to receive to prevent diseases. James Keivom<\/p>\n

As of Monday, the RFK-led Centers for Disease Control no longer recommends childhood vaccination for six illnesses. Will Oliver \u2013 Pool via CNP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The CDC still recommends shots for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), and chickenpox.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday\u2019s announcement weakening the childhood vaccination schedule puts the health and well-being of children and their families at risk,\u201d Morse said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a public servant and medical professional, I will not stay silent. The NYC Health Department remains committed to our mission of protecting the health and safety of all New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration justified its decision as an effort to mirror countries that recommend fewer childhood vaccinations \u2014 not because new scientific evidence was offered, Morse said.<\/p>\n

Morse argued that major nations, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and Spain, recommend childhood vaccination schedules similar to the one the US was using.<\/p>\n

The CDC itself previously estimated that the vaccination of children born between 1994 and 2023 will prevent 508 million illnesses, help avoid more than 1.1 million deaths, and save nearly $2.7 trillion in societal costs, the commissioner said.<\/p>\n

Morse claims the changes made will have fatal effects on children who do not receive the necessary vaccinations. comzeal \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The city Health Department recommends that children continue to receive all vaccines previously recommended by the CDC.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents and caregivers should speak to their pediatrician if they have questions about vaccination recommendations. Health care providers in New York City should continue to follow the existing recommendations,\u201d Morse said.<\/p>\n

The state Health Department also recommended that pediatricians and parents stick to the pre-Kennedy vaxx regime for kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite changes announced at the federal level, New York State\u2019s long-standing, childhood vaccine requirements remain the same,\u201d said state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

The RFK-led Centers for Disease Control no longer advises childhood vaccination for: hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal disease, rotavirus, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). ERIK S LESSER\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no new science, safety data or discovery presented by the federal government. New Yorkers can continue to be confident that vaccines offer the best protection from preventable childhood diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Trump and Kennedy \u2014 a longtime vaccine skeptic and US Secretary of Health and Human Services who oversees the CDC \u2014 defended the relaxed child vaccine requirements as medically sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Schedule is rooted in the Gold Standard of Science, and widely agreed upon by Scientists and Experts all over the World,\u201d Trump insisted on Truth Social Monday.<\/p>\n

The president emphasized the recommendation does not preclude parents from having their children get jabbed with more vaccines than the feds now recommend.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents can still choose to give their children all of the Vaccinations, if they wish, and they will still be covered by insurance,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this updated Schedule finally aligns the United States with other Developed Nations around the World\u2026 Many Americans, especially the \u2018MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] Moms,\u2019 have been praying for these COMMON SENSE reforms for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said, \u201cAfter an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent. This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump-ordered CDC assessments concluded that the US was a \u201cglobal outlier\u201d in the number of child vaccinations recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s public health boss ripped Robert Kennedy Jr.\u2019s decision to scale back the number of vaccinations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3930,153,5237,57,9,56,63,65,64,43501,58,4133],"class_list":["post-91936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-cdc","tag-donald-trump","tag-health-department","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-robert-kennedy","tag-us-news","tag-vaccination"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}