STAT+: HHS document offers new clues to Kennedy’s vaccine plans
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- HHS posted a request for information Friday seeking public input on reshaping how U.S. children receive vaccines, with a 30-day comment window.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Trump are pressing ahead with vaccine policy changes, with the RFI offering the clearest signal yet of their reform priorities.
- The RFI makes no policy changes itself but solicits feedback on a wide range of ideas, framing the effort as informational rather than regulatory.
- The request asks whether new categories should be added to the existing framework, which currently covers universal recommendations, risk-based group recommendations, and recommendations based on shared clinical decision-making.
- The move marks a procedural step in the administration's push to overhaul the childhood immunization schedule, though no binding changes are proposed yet.
Why it matters: The 30-day RFI gives the public and stakeholders a formal channel to shape whether new tiers are added to the three existing vaccine recommendation categories (universal, risk-based, shared clinical decision-making). Because the request explicitly invites new categories — and comes from an HHS secretary who has long called for overhauling the childhood schedule — it signals the administration's reform agenda is moving from rhetoric into a comment-gathering process.
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