U.S. poised to adopt Denmark’s childhood vaccine schedule, experts question move

The United States is expected to adopt the childhood vaccine recommendations used in Denmark, a country of six million with universal health care, a change that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, is expected to announce in the new year. The shift would cut the recommended number of immunizations for American children to 10 from 17 and, the article says, would be made without the deliberative process the United States has relied on for decades.

The move follows a presidential directive issued on Dec. 5 by President Trump to align U.S. vaccine recommendations with "best practices from peer, developed countries," citing Denmark, Germany and Japan. Public health experts quoted in the article said the comparison to Denmark is flawed.

"We’re using the information from a country that is the size of one of our states to dictate what should happen to children. And that is just wrong," said Dr. Kathryn Edwards. The Vaccine Integrity Project said, "We are already in line with our peer nations." Dr. Kristian G. Andersen called the U.S.

schedule "one of the best standards" and said "Denmark is the outlier." Reporters noted several reasons Denmark recommends fewer vaccines, including different cost analyses, lower burdens of disease and universal health care that gives Danes easier access to treatment.

Key Topics

Health, Childhood Vaccines, Denmark, Presidential Directive, Vaccine Integrity Project