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Trump signs order to use HHS vaccine assessment as federal guide

FILE PHOTO: Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stand outside the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stand outside the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to acknowledge a recent scientific assessment by the Department of Health and Human Services on childhood vaccines as a guide for the federal government, the White House said on Friday.

The order directs the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to review the HHS assessment and clinical data to update the vaccines schedule for children and adolescents, according to the text of the order.

"It is the policy of the United States that the core childhood vaccine schedule should be aligned with scientific evidence and best practices from peer, developed countries while preserving access to vaccines currently available to Americans," the White House said.

The review by CDC's vaccine panel ACIP should consider ways to be flexible to doctors and parents and provide recommendations for timing and sequencing of the administration of routine immunizations, it added.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Bhargav Acharya; editing by Costas Pitas)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 6:21 PM.

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