RFK Jr Plans To Make Major Changes to the Childhood Vaccine Schedule

Parents and caregivers looking to start their child's vaccine schedule in 2026 may be getting different information than parents that came before them. That's because Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) seems poised to recommend some massive changes to childhood vaccine schedules, which could include delaying a crucial childhood vaccination.

RFK Jr. will meet with an advisory panel to come up with a plan in early December 2025, which could change official guidance moving forward.

This news is unwelcome among many health and medical experts, who believe that RFK Jr. is basing his feeling on vaccines on data that has been proven to be false, creating a potentially dangerous situation for new families.

Of course, the recommendations made during the two-day meeting won't prevent families from opting to follow the traditional vaccine schedule, but misinformation shared during the event could prove to be misleading for some, causing them to skip the vaccines altogether.

According to The Independent, a planned two-day summit that is scheduled to take place between the RFK Jr. and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory panel on Dec. 4, 2025. During the meeting, those close to the situation say that RFK Jr. will suggest some pretty significant changes to the existing vaccine schedule, which could include delaying the newborn dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

This dose has been part of the schedule since 1991.

According to The Independent, when given to newborns within the first 24 hours of life, this dose is 90 percent effective. When newborns receive all three of the doses as recommended, 98 percent of children will develop a decades long immunity to hepatitis B.

The likely reason behind the proposed delay? RFK Jr. has falsely claimed that vaccines like the one for hepatitis B cause autism, a topic that the Health and Human Services Secretary has talked about at great length.

The May Clinic calls hepatitis B "a serious liver infection," which is caused by the virus HBV. When left untreated, hepatitis B can turn serious, and in some cases cause liver damage. When infants are infected with the virus, they face more lifelong consequences, including chronic infections and liver damage, liver cancer, and scarring of the liver.

Fortunately, the vaccine can protect many people against the worst of the infection, preventing more adverse health outcomes.

There are a few different ways a person can get hepatitis B, but most of them involve coming into contact with bodily fluids like blood or semen. Sometimes the virus can also be spread through needle pricks, when someone is poked with a needle that has been used on an infected person.

Lastly, pregnant people can pass the virus onto their newborns during childbirth, which is one of the reasons why an early dose of the vaccine can be so important in the early days of life.