On January 7, 2026, National Minority Quality Forum joined a broad coalition of national medical societies, public health organizations, and patient advocates to submit a joint letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services leadership expressing concern over recent decisions related to the U.S. childhood immunization schedule. Addressed to Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill and Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brian Christine, the letter underscores the importance of maintaining a transparent, evidence-based approach to immunization policy grounded in U.S. epidemiology and real-world risk.

Signatories warn that comparisons to immunization schedules from other countries fail to account for critical differences in population size, diversity, healthcare access, and infectious disease burden in the United States. The coalition highlights the serious risks of weakening current recommendations—particularly during an anticipated severe respiratory season—citing record-high pediatric influenza deaths and the continued burden of RSV hospitalizations among infants. The letter urges federal health leaders to continue recommending annual influenza vaccination for individuals six months and older and to ensure protection against RSV for infants whose mothers were not vaccinated during pregnancy, emphasizing that reducing recommended vaccines would increase, rather than decrease, preventable illness and death among children.

Read full letter here.