Oregon and the three other members of the West Coast Health Alliance are rejecting the latest vaccine pullback by the Trump administration.
In a statement late Monday, the group rejected the decision by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to revise the longstanding childhood vaccine schedule, which lays out when children should get certain shots. The new recommendations cut the number of vaccines recommended for children.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, said the new schedule follows a review of recommendations in other countries and will protect children and rebuild trust in public health.
The West Coast Health Alliance, which released its statement hours after the announcement by the CDC, disagreed, saying the new recommendations create confusion and put children and families at risk.
“This decision did not follow established procedure for vaccine policy recommendations and threatens an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases in children nationwide,” the statement said. “Children getting sick from the diseases prevented by recommended immunizations leads to missed school for children, missed work for parents and even hospitalization and death in some children.”
The group said that insurers will continue to pay for immunizations previously recommended by the CDC.
“All child and adolescent immunizations recommended as of Dec. 31, 2025, will remain available and covered by public and private insurers,” the statement said.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, Oregon’s state epidemiologist, echoed that statement Tuesday afternoon in a media conference. He said the federal government has made no changes to the Vaccines for Children program, which pays for immunizations for more than half of the children in the U.S.
He also said pharmacies and providers would continue to have access to the longstanding vaccines recommended for children.
“Families should not have any new costs when they choose to protect their children with recommended vaccines,” Sidelinger said.
He also said there would be no change in the vaccines required for school attendance.
“Nothing has changed right now,” Sidelinger said.
Oregon officials have notified providers that the state is not changing its vaccine recommendations and will repeat that message to immunization providers subscribed to an email list, he said.
He said he hopes providers follow the state’s advice.
The new schedule calls for all children to get shots for 11 diseases instead of 17, dropping recommendations for immunizations against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV or respiratory syncytial virus and some meningococcal vaccines. It also does not recommend Covid vaccines for children, following the administration’s restrictions against them last year. That move prompted the Western states in September to form the alliance to counter vaccine recommendations under Kennedy, who’s steered the CDC away from longstanding vaccine policy in the U.S.
Considerations of other countries
The move by the CDC comes amid falling vaccination rates across the country — including in Oregon — and worries among health care officials that diseases once considered eradicated could come back. One example: measles. Cases have risen nationwide, with outbreaks sweeping the country last year. Oregon only had one case but saw 31 the year before.
The CDC’s revised schedule, which includes the measles, mumps and rubella shot, was based on a review of recommendations in 20 other developed countries, Kennedy said in the statement.
The alliance said the administration did not consider various conditions in other countries compared to those in the U.S. and did not look at the science as a whole.
“Changes in the newly released recommended immunization schedule are not based on changes in vaccine safety and effectiveness data,” the statement said. “These changes were also not vetted by experts from medical and public health organizations, health care providers or the public before they were published.”
The group said it supports recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics, based on “established vaccine safety and effectiveness evidence.”
The academy considers a wide range of factors, including some that are the same in all countries, like the time when children are the most vulnerable, the safety of vaccines and when they work best. The academy’s recommendations also consider factors specific to the U.S., including risk factors and access to health care and immunizations.
The statement said the academy’s recommendations should serve as a “starting point for discussions between families and their providers,” and that parents should decide when to vaccinate their children based on those discussions.
The academy used to support the CDC’s recommendations, which were based on reviews by a respected vaccine advisory council. But Kennedy dismantled the group and forced out the CDC’s director based on vaccine policy. He assigned new people to the board who are more aligned with his views.
The new group has called for fewer people to get a Covid shot, and scaled back recommendations that newborns get the hepatitis B shot, saying only those with mothers who test positive for the virus should get vaccinated.
