Colorado encourages parents to ignore federal vaccine guideline changes
Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Habitat rejected the federal government’s recently revised childhood immunization schedule, urging families to follow the 2025 American academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations rather. the federal change – which reduced routinely recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11 – will not be adopted for Colorado schools or childcare settings; a December law (HB 25-1027) lets schools require the AAP schedule, and Senate Bill 25-196 helps ensure insurance covers vaccines that align with that schedule. California Gov. Gavin newsom and the West Coast Health Alliance have also criticized the federal move, calling it reckless and tying it to anti-vaccine advocacy.
Colorado encourages parents to ignore federal vaccine guideline changes
Colorado became the latest state to criticize the newly released federal guidance for childhood vaccines on Tuesday.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released a statement rejecting the CDC’s new vaccine schedule and said Colorado’s approach “remains grounded in long-standing science, expert consensus, and transparency.”
On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implemented a major change in the childhood immunization schedule, reducing the number of vaccines children receive from 17 to 11.
In the CDPHE news release, the agency recommended families follow the 2025 recommended child and adolescent immunization schedule issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The agency said Colorado is not changing the rules for school or childcare to accommodate the federal change that removes several “universally recommended” vaccines.
A law passed in December will act as a buffer for Colorado schools, despite the changes at the federal level. House Bill 25-1027 allows schools to follow the 2025 AAP immunizations schedule.
The state also passed Senate Bill 25-196, which ensures coverage for vaccines that align with the 2025 schedule. Federal law generally only requires insurance companies to provide no-cost coverage for vaccines that are “routinely recommended” by the CDC.
Colorado is not alone in its defiance of the new CDC recommendations. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) issued a statement on Monday calling the move “reckless.”
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“It’s about appeasing a debunked anti-vaccine agenda being pushed by RFK Jr. and his allies,” Newsom said in the release. “Undermining the prior CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule flies in the face of decades of medical expertise and puts ideology over evidence.”
Newsom’s statement was released in conjunction with the West Coast Health Alliance, which includes Washington and Oregon.
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