Local health officials are warning that recent changes to federal vaccine recommendations could cause confusion among parents, deepen vaccine hesitancy and lead to a resurgence of preventable childhood diseases.

The United States this week took the unprecedented step of narrowing the list of vaccines recommended for all children — a move that leading medical groups said would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases, The Associated Press reported.

The change, which took effect immediately, means that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend that all children get vaccinated against 11 diseases, according to wire reports. What’s no longer broadly recommended is protection against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis or RSV. Instead, protections against those diseases are only recommended for certain groups deemed high risk, or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”

Trump administration officials said the overhaul — long sought by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — would not limit access for families who want the vaccines and that insurance would continue to pay, according to wire reports.

But medical experts nationwide, including in Bartholomew County, warned that the changes could create confusion among parents and lead to an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases.

“Years of scientific research has gone into determining the safety and efficacy of vaccines,” said Bartholomew County Health Officer Dr. Brian Niedbalski. “I am concerned that this course of action will lead to complacency. Parents may interpret these changes from the federal government as affirmation that vaccines aren’t important or necessary. Unfortunately, I do foresee an increase in preventable childhood illnesses.”

The changes come as U.S. vaccination rates have been slipping and the share of children with exemptions has reached an all-time high, according to federal data. At the same time, rates of diseases that can be protected against with vaccines, such as measles and whooping cough, are rising across the country.

States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.

At the same time, several leading medical groups criticized the changes, including the American College of Pediatrics. Medical experts said the changes were done without what they said was public discussion or a transparent review of the data.

The changes were made by political appointees, without any evidence that the current recommendations were harming children, Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics told the AP.

The pediatricians’ group has issued its own childhood vaccine schedule that its members are following, and it continues to broadly recommend vaccines that the Trump administration demoted.

On Tuesday, Columbus Regional Health issued a statement in strong support of vaccination, encouraging the public to follow the vaccination schedules outlined by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Columbus Regional Health Providers strongly support vaccination as a cornerstone of public health, a shining example of the power of scientific research and a vital tool in the fight against preventable diseases,” CRH said in the statement.

CRH Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Raymond Lee Kiser told The Republic that the county hospital system had been working on the statement before the CDC announced the changes to childhood vaccine schedules this week in response to a local increase in vaccine hesitancy.

“Our own providers … just began saying that they were getting a lot more questions around vaccinations and seeing what I would say is more vaccine hesitancy,” Kiser said. “…We want to make it very clear that we as the medical community strongly support the recommended vaccinations that … have been out here for 10 to 20 years with amazing evidence to support it.”

Kiser said CRH always encourages parents or patients to speak with their doctor about any questions or concerns they have about vaccines. At the same time, Kiser expressed concerns about whether the CDC changes would translate into additional policies on the federal or state level restricting or discouraging vaccinations.

“I think (the change) will lead to more confusion,” Kiser said. “I think there’s a possibility that it could eventually lead to issues with vaccines being less available, especially to those who have more difficulties affording the vaccines. Because it becomes the point where there are no longer requirements (for these vaccines), then insurance may stop reimbursing for those. … And then I really do have concerns that there is some part of the population that will interpret those recommendations to say, ‘Well, the government doesn’t support it and therefore I’m not going to get it, or I’m not going to get it from my children’ and increase that hesitancy rate.”

Kiser pointed to measles outbreaks across the U.S. last year. Nationwide, the number of measles cases was approaching 2,000 in December — a troubling milestone for a disease declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, largely because of widespread childhood vaccination.

Forty-two states — including Indiana — have logged at least one measles case this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has confirmed 47 outbreaks this year, compared with 16 in 2024. Three people — two of them Texas school children — have died.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and provides 97% protection against the disease after two doses.

“The measles outbreak is just a prime example,” Kiser said. “That outbreak directly correlated with areas that have lower vaccination rates. We know what is going to happen. There isn’t any surprise that if we have increased vaccine hesitancy, we’re going to have lower vaccination rates. If we have lower vaccination rates, we are going to see increased prevalence of these diseases.”

“There is no treatment for measles,” Kiser added. “People don’t understand. We don’t have an antiviral that treats it.”

Kiser said about 1 in 1,000 patients with measles die, while another 1 in 1,000 will get brain damage or blindness and 1 in 5 will need to be hospitalized — “and that’s just with measles alone.”

The move by the CDC comes as Kennedy, a longtime activist against vaccines, has repeatedly used his authority in government to translate his skepticism about the shots into national guidance, according to wire reports.

In May, Kennedy announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.

In June, Kennedy fired an entire 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee — later installing several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptics.

Kennedy in November also personally directed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism, without supplying any new evidence to support the change. Local health officials said there is no link between vaccines and autism.

“It really does worry all of us here at CRH pretty greatly that if we start seeing this rise of vaccine hesitancy in subsequent unvaccinated population, we’re going to start seeing some of these diseases that we really haven’t seen for years,” Kiser said.
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