{"id":439488,"date":"2026-01-30T20:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/439488\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:18:08","slug":"cleveland-doctors-ignore-new-federal-guidelines-reducing-vaccine-recommendations-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/439488\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland doctors ignore new federal guidelines reducing vaccine recommendations for kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Cleveland-area physicians, joining with health systems and caregivers across the country, <\/a>are ignoring new federal guidelines that reduce the number of recommended vaccines for children. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the vaccines themselves \u2014 and decades of data showing they are safe and effective \u2014 have not changed, doctors said. <\/p>\n

Describing the new recommendations as motivated by politics and not science, local physicians said they will stick with the previous U.S. policy. But the uncertainty is causing confusion and hesitancy surrounding vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s OK to ignore it,\u201d Dr. David Margolius, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, said about the Trump administration\u2019s new pediatric vaccine schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sense is that universally, every physician society, healthcare system, provider and physician we engage with \u2014 nobody has changed\u201d how they administer vaccines, Margolius said.<\/p>\n

Confusion over why the federal government thinks fewer childhood vaccines are necessary may make more families say no to all immunizations, said Dr. Candis Platt-Houston, director of general pediatrics at MetroHealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of fostering trust, (the changes) may foster confusion and distrust,\u201d Platt-Houston said. <\/p>\n

Pediatrician Dr. Deanna Barry, who is based in Bath, echoed that opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that families aren\u2019t willing or even disagreeing with me,\u201d said Barry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re confused, and it\u2019s so understandable why they\u2019re confused right now, because of what\u2019s going on in the news,\u201d Barry continued. \u201cI almost feel like confusion is a bigger risk than if we just disagreed. So my job is to kind of cut through that confusion, and offer clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 5 cut the number<\/a> of universally recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. Nationally, medical experts slammed the move, saying it could lead to increased vaccine hesitation and spread of diseases. <\/p>\n

The new guidance recommends<\/a> that all children be immunized against polio, measles and mumps, but leaves flu and COVID-19 shots up to \u201cshared clinical decision-making.\u201d <\/p>\n

The CDC still lists<\/a> 11 diseases and vaccinations as as routine for all kids: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV, and varicella (chickenpox), Barry explained. <\/p>\n

The six vaccines that the CDC moved out of the universal-for-all-kids category are rotavirus, influenza, COVID-19, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningococcal disease, Barry said. <\/p>\n

Vaccines for diseases that are no longer recommended for all children will still be covered by federal health insurance programs and Affordable Care Act insurance plans, health experts said. <\/p>\n

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes were meant to restore trust in public health and bring this country\u2019s recommendations closer to those in other developed nations. <\/p>\n

Vaccination remains one of the most effective tools to prevent disease, reduce health inequities, and protect vulnerable populations, immunization experts say. <\/p>\n

But immunization rates have been declining across the United States. The Pan American Health Organization, which tracks infectious disease in the Americas, is set to review the United States\u2019 and Mexico\u2019s measles elimination status this spring, due to the measles <\/a>outbreaks that began in this country in early 2025. <\/p>\n

Measles vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners has decreased from 95.2% during the 2019\u20132020 school year to 92.5% in the 2024\u20132025 school year. That\u2019s under the threshold necessary for effective herd immunity, according to the CDC. <\/p>\n

Education, not coercion<\/p>\n

The new federal guidelines say \u201cshared clinical decision-making\u201d should determine whether children receive some immunizations. The term simply refers to conversations between families and their doctors \u2014 something physicians say they have always done.<\/p>\n

\u201cClinicians provide clear, unbiased information, and patients are supported in asking questions and expressing their preferences and concerns,\u201d said Dr. Melanie Golembiewski, chief medical officer for Neighborhood Family Practice<\/a>, a Cleveland primary healthcare provider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen shared decision-making is done well, it strengthens trust, improves understanding, and ultimately supports higher-quality, more sustainable health outcomes,\u201d Golembiewski said. <\/p>\n

Barry has always had guided conversations with her patients, explaining how serious certain illnesses can be for infants and kids, and the risks if vaccines are skipped or delayed. <\/p>\n

However, she doesn\u2019t allow non-vaccinating families to join her practice, in order to protect children who are too young to be immunized. <\/p>\n

MetroHealth\u2019s Platt-Houston has worked with families who chose not to follow the recommended vaccine schedule. If parents only wanted two vaccines administered during a visit that usually involved several shots, Platt-Houston helped them decide which two vaccines the child should receive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see my role as trying to coerce them into getting the vaccines,\u201d Platt-Houston said. \u201cIf you have that relationship with your families and they trust you, they\u2019re going to take your advice when they\u2019re trying to figure out these confusing times.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s new recommendations eliminate the hepatitis B shot as a universally recommended vaccine for newborns. Since the change was announced, most parents have still opted to give the hepatitis B vaccine to their babies, local pediatricians said. <\/p>\n

Families who say no to the hepatitis B vaccine are usually choosing not to vaccinate at all, Platt-Houston said. <\/p>\n

Illnesses that were dropped from the universal vaccination list are still circulating, and spread could increase if vaccination rates drop, health experts said. <\/p>\n

The American Academy of Pediatrics called the changes \u201cdangerous and unnecessary.\u201d The American Medical Association also criticized the move. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen families hear these recommendation changes and assume the vaccines suddenly are unsafe, we just have to explain that\u2019s not true,\u201d Barry said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Cleveland-area physicians, joining with health systems and caregivers across the country, are ignoring new federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-439488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}