Written by Laurent Neargaard and Mike Stobbe
It’s normal for parents and anyone to have questions about vaccinations, but what happens when a pediatrician under attack from the Trump administration recommends vaccinations?
That possibility is increasing. The nation’s leading physician groups are locked in an unprecedented standoff with federal health officials who have attacked a long-used, life-saving vaccine.
The revolt by pediatricians, obstetricians, family physicians, infectious disease experts and internists culminated when an advisory panel handpicked by Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for an end to routine vaccination of newborns against hepatitis B, a virus that can cause liver failure and liver cancer.
The vaccine saves lives, has contributed to a sharp decline in infectious diseases in children, and is safely administered to tens of millions of children in the United States alone, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other physician groups said Tuesday, vowing to continue promoting the vaccine.
But that’s not the only difference. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is currently considering potential changes to the overall childhood immunization schedule, raising questions about specific ingredients and the number of shots young people should receive.
In response, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its own recommendations for young people. Other medical groups, as well as a coalition of some city and state public health departments, have also issued their own advice on specific vaccines, which largely reflects pre-2025 federal guidance.
“We owe our patients a consistent message that is based on evidence and real-world experience, not a message biased by political imperatives,” Dr. Ronald Nahas, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told reporters on Tuesday.
But Nahas acknowledged the inevitable consumer confusion, recounting a call she received last weekend from a relative seeking advice on vaccinating her newborn grandchild with the hepatitis B vaccine.
“Most Americans don’t have a cousin, Ronnie, to call, and they are left with fear and distrust,” he said, urging parents to talk to their doctors about the vaccine.
New guidelines without new data raise concerns for doctors
Hepatitis B is not the only vaccine challenge. President Kennedy’s Health Department recently changed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s webpage to deny the long-held scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism. Federal agencies are also moving to restrict COVID-19 vaccinations this fall and are planning policy changes that could limit future flu and coronavirus vaccinations.
But when it comes to vaccine advice, “ACIP has been the gold standard for decades,” says Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious disease physician and Stanford University researcher.
He said the committee used to regularly have experts in specific diseases deliberate at length on the latest science and safety data, resulting in recommendations that are commonly adopted by the CDC as well as the medical field as a whole.
FILE – Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a press conference at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium on April 22, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
A meeting last week of Mr. Kennedy’s committee, which included vaccine skeptics, marked a fundamental shift in direction. CDC experts were not allowed to present data on hepatitis B, childhood vaccination schedules, questions about vaccine ingredients, etc. Few of the committee members had public health experience, and some expressed confusion about the committee’s recommendations.
One day, a doctor called and told her that the committee had misrepresented the results of her study. The committee chair also wondered why children in the United States received three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine, but one dose of the yellow fever vaccine would protect them while traveling to Africa. The hepatitis B vaccine is designed to protect children for life from the virus they may encounter anywhere, not just when traveling abroad. Other scientists pointed out that the drug had been carefully studied for years to prove that three doses can provide decades-long immunity. This is evidence that one dose does not provide any immunity.
“If they have new data, I’m all for it. Let’s look at it and talk about it,” said Dr. Kelly Gebo, an infectious disease expert and dean of the School of Public Health at George Washington University, who was watching. She won’t change her advice on vaccines because “we haven’t seen any new data.”
Committee members argued that the risk of hepatitis B infection for most infants was very low and that previous research into the safety of the shot in infants was insufficient.
Particularly unusual was a presentation by an attorney who expressed doubts about the study, which promoted unreliable studies proving the benefits and pointing to harms of multiple childhood vaccines.
Dr. Robert Malone will chair a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta on Friday, December 5, 2025, to consider changes to recommendations for hepatitis B vaccination for infants. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)
“I don’t think that at any point in the history of the committee, there has ever been a 90-minute uninterrupted presentation on this topic by someone who is not a doctor, a scientist, a public health expert, much less someone who makes a living on vaccine litigation,” said Jason Schwartz, a vaccine policy expert at Yale University.
By abandoning the data and the consensus of front-line doctors, ACIP is “actively undermining the credibility that made its recommendations so powerful,” Stanford’s Scott added. “Most parents will still defer to their pediatrician, and the AAP holds the line here. But mixed messages are what will erode trust over time.”
Parents already have choices and need solid guidance
Trump administration health officials say it’s important to restore parental choice and avoid mandates. This was the framework for the committee’s hepatitis B recommendations, which allowed parents who really wanted to have their children vaccinated later.
Dr. Aaron Millstone of the American Academy of Pediatrics said parents already have a choice. Governments issue recommendations to the population as a whole, and families and doctors make choices based on each person’s health needs.
But many doctors did not or were unable to conduct their own long-term scientific reviews of vaccines, so they relied on information from ACIP and the CDC, Yale’s Schwartz said.
They “rely on trusted expert opinion to navigate the complexities of vaccine evidence and how best to use it, even in the best of times,” he said.
This is a challenge Pediatricians and other physician organizations, as well as multiple state partners, are trying to fill in with their own guidelines, but we know it will be a daunting task.
For now, “ask your questions, bring your concerns and let’s talk about them,” said Dr. Sara Nosal of the American Academy of Family Physicians, urging people with questions about vaccines to have open conversations with their doctors.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.
