TAMPA, Fla. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced changes to childhood vaccine schedules this week, narrowing recommendations for several vaccines while maintaining requirements for others, prompting mixed reactions from local parents and healthcare providers.
Many current recommendations remain unchanged, including vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chickenpox, HPV, and several others. However, officials are now narrowing recommendations for vaccines, including hepatitis A and B, flu, COVID-19, rotavirus, and meningococcal disease.
WATCH: CDC reduces childhood vaccine requirements, sparking mixed reactions among Tampa Bay parents
Some parents express concern that the changes could lead to increased infections in their communities.
"It's frustrating to me to think about my kids potentially missing school for preventable illness," Sara Healy said.
Healy has three children — one in fifth grade and two in middle school. She said vaccinations are so important to her family that when she sends birthday invitations for her children, she asks parents to decline if their child is not vaccinated to protect those who are medically vulnerable.
"Even though these aren't the bigger, scarier necessarily names, I think that they're still essential for our community, for our economy, and for our kids' development," Healy said.
Ami Marie Granger-Welch, whose child has graduated and received all vaccinations, said she has no regrets about her decision.
"It was never a question in my mind like protect not just protecting my own child, but protecting the community. I'm like that's part of a social norm to think of others, and it's kind of it's alarming," Granger-Welch said.
Not all parents share these concerns. One parent who declined to appear on camera said she welcomes the update, appreciating the flexibility of not requiring all vaccines while still wanting some immunizations for her children.
Ted Henderson commented on Tampa Bay 28's Facebook post, writing: "Now we are in line with Europe, which has significantly less chronic disease issues than the US."
Dr. Robin Hauser, a pediatrician with Pediatric Healthcare Alliance who has over 30 years of experience, expressed disappointment with the changes.
"When you do decline a vaccine, you're kind of rolling the dice and assuming that your child is going to get through that disease, without serious sequelae," Hauser said.
Hauser said she has witnessed diseases like rotavirus and meningitis overwhelm healthcare systems firsthand.
"I spent many a night in the pediatric intensive care unit when I was a resident doing a spinal tap, you know, and watching these kids with meningitis basically struggle, and some of them died," Hauser said. "It was heartbreaking, and we just don't see meningitis anymore."
She warned that reducing vaccination rates for diseases that have largely disappeared, like measles and polio, could compromise herd immunity.
"So they're depending on all the other people in the United States to vaccinate their kids so that their own children who are unvaccinated don't get exposed, but when these diseases start to make a comeback, again, it's the perfect storm," Hauser said.
Hauser recommends parents consult with their doctors and pediatricians about vaccination decisions.
"When I recommend something for your children, it's because I truly believe that, philosophically and scientifically, and I truly love your child, and would do for them what I would do for my own children," Hauser said.
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