The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Jan. 5 that it was updating its childhood vaccine recommendations. The agency now recommends vaccines against only 11 diseases, down from the previous 17, removing the flu, meningitis and COVID-19 vaccines, among others.
According to the CDC, the decision was based on a “comprehensive scientific assessment,” but the agency did not seek public comment on its decision, and a key panel that typically reviews changes to the agency’s vaccine schedule was not consulted, according to NPR.
In the Roaring Fork Valley, public health officials responded differently to the changes. Carrie Godes, a spokesperson for Garfield County Public Health, emphasized that “nothing has changed” regarding the availability of — or access to — vaccines.
She referenced a bill that Colorado legislators passed last spring, authorizing the state to use sources other than the CDC for its recommended vaccine schedule.
As of Dec. 17, the Colorado Board of Health began following vaccine recommendations issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends all 17 vaccines.
Meanwhile, Pitkin County Epidemiologist Carly Senst criticized the CDC’s decision to remove six vaccines from the recommended schedule.
“This is not based in data,” she said. “This is not based in peer-reviewed study.”
The CDC said it removed the vaccines to align its recommendations with peer nations, such as Denmark, Germany, and Japan. Public health experts, however, criticized the administration’s justification, saying it was like “going offroading in a Porsche.”
The epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina cited Denmark, which has a robust, well-funded universal health care system. “It’s like a smooth, meticulously maintained highway where a sports car can thrive,” she wrote on her blog.
The U.S. health system, on the other hand, “is more like off-road trails in Utah,” she added. “It’s fragmented, uneven, expensive, and wildly variable depending on where you live. Access depends on insurance, geography, clinic capacity, transportation, and state policy. This needs a 4-Runner built to handle potholes, steep drop-offs, and unpredictable conditions.”
Senst applauded Colorado’s shift away from the CDC, but she worried about what the inconsistencies in vaccine guidance would mean for public health more broadly.
“What Colorado does is fantastic,” she said. “But it will be impacted by the states around us, by the fact that we live in a country that has high rates of mobility, and that it will just continue to sow distrust in vaccines.”
She noted that the CDC’s removal of the flu vaccine from the universally recommended schedule for children was particularly concerning, given that the U.S. is facing its worst flu season in 25 years.
A Jan. 6 press release from Eagle County Public Health and Environment warned of a significant increase in flu-related hospitalizations.
The most severe cases are occurring among older adults who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised, but the press release stated, “increases are also being observed in young children.”
According to the CDC, at least 11 million people have had the flu this season, 120,000 have been hospitalized with the virus, and 5,000 people have died — including nine children.
Flu vaccinations have also declined among children, from a high of 53% over the 2019-20 flu season to 42% this season.
“This is in a season where we are seeing incredibly high rates of flu activity, not only in the country, but also in Colorado, said Senst. “This is driving hospitalizations of children, so it is a little ironic to see a step back from one of the best preventative safety tools that we have,” she said, noting that the flu vaccine reduces the severity of the illness and the risk of hospitalization.
Senst added the CDC’s decision to remove the meningococcal vaccine was equally bizarre. Although meningitis is rare compared to the flu or COVID-19, it poses serious danger to young children and adults who contract the disease and can lead to health complications down the road.
Senst added that for as long as she has worked in public health, the federal agency has been the “gold standard,” but she has started to rethink that assumption.
“It is a heartbreaking day when I have to unlink the CDC from our own personal websites,” she said.
