The Trump administration has acknowledged it desires the U.S. childhood vaccination schedule to look extra like peer nations resembling Denmark. Critics say the U.S. has totally different well being threats.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Trump administration has stated it desires to align its childhood vaccination schedule with greatest practices in peer nations – locations like Denmark. That would imply fewer vaccines towards fewer ailments. However critics say you possibly can’t merely undertake one other nation’s vaccine schedule within the U.S., which has a really totally different inhabitants and totally different well being dangers. Right here to inform us extra is NPR’s Maria Godoy. Hello there.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: Hello.
SUMMERS: Maria, for starters, why Denmark? What’s the U.S. seeking to emulate with regards to childhood vaccines?
GODOY: Nicely, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has lengthy stated he thinks American children get too many vaccines. And earlier this month, President Trump issued a memorandum directing Kennedy and the performing CDC director to take a look at greatest practices from peer nations, and it particularly talked about Denmark, which vaccinates all children towards simply 10 ailments. In the meantime, the U.S. recommends routine vaccination towards 16 ailments. It was really 17 till final week when the CDC dropped the advice for vaccinating all newborns towards hepatitis B. And earlier this month, at a gathering of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, an FDA official gave a giant presentation actually highlighting Denmark’s childhood vaccination schedule.
SUMMERS: I imply, Denmark is a rich nation, and it does have a fantastic well being care system, so one may argue why not emulate their vaccine schedule?
GODOY: You recognize, I requested this of Dr. Sean O’Leary with the American Academy of Pediatrics, and here is what he stated.
SEAN O’LEARY: It is like evaluating a cruise ship to a kayak. I imply, for instance, Denmark is the scale of roughly Wisconsin.
GODOY: He notes Denmark’s inhabitants is barely about 6 million individuals, and it isn’t very numerous in revenue or race, in contrast to the U.S. It is obtained a nationwide well being registry that principally tracks everybody from beginning to demise and free common well being care that makes it simpler to get care should you’re sick. Households get a couple of yr of paid parental depart to allow them to keep dwelling with their infants, so that they doubtlessly aren’t uncovered to as many ailments. And if an toddler will get hospitalized, for instance, with RSV, which Denmark doesn’t vaccinate towards, their well being system absorbs that price, so it isn’t a barrier to getting care.
SUMMERS: And I will simply be aware that sounds fairly totally different from the scenario right here within the U.S.
GODOY: Precisely. And right here, lots of people battle with well being care entry, and we even have larger charges of childhood weight problems and bronchial asthma. And we put extra of an emphasis on illness prevention relatively than administration. You recognize, I additionally spoke with Dr. William Moss of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being, and he says here is the underside line.
WILLIAM MOSS: The rationale why nations, notably in Europe, have totally different vaccination schedules is just not as a result of they think about the vaccines to not be protected or that the vaccines do not work. And I believe it is crucial that folks perceive that.
GODOY: He says it truly is about all these different variations in context.
SUMMERS: Maria, we spoke about Denmark, however how does the U.S. evaluate to different peer nations with regards to childhood vaccines?
GODOY: You recognize, I requested the identical query to Josh Michaud, a world well being professional with KFF. And he says that while you take a look at the 30 nations which are a part of the European Centre for Illness Prevention and Management, the U.S. may be very a lot consistent with them.
JOSH MICHAUD: It’s Denmark that appears to be the outlier right here by way of recommending only a few vaccines. So within the case of Germany and France and Italy, we could be speaking about 15 or extra vaccines.
SUMMERS: OK, so some variation there. Is that this one thing we count on the Trump administration to maneuver on within the close to future?
GODOY: Yeah, that is the large query. The Well being and Human Providers Division despatched out notices final Thursday saying they have been going to make an announcement on kids’s well being, however they canceled it just a few hours later. Media studies counsel the administration had deliberate to announce an overhaul of the childhood vaccination schedule, however HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon declined to debate the matter.
SUMMERS: NPR’s Maria Godoy, thanks.
GODOY: My pleasure.
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