Trump administration announces major vaccine change for 2026

The Trump administration is changing the way vaccines work heading into 2026 as the sweeping changes to healthcare in the US continue.

The president has spoken in the past year about his administration’s new initiative to ‘Make Health Technology Great Again’ after securing commitments from more than 60 health and information technology companies to participate in a plan to make Medicare patient data more accessible.

However, Trump has been criticised for seemingly advocating for shifting the Medicare program toward private plans, seemingly making healthcare less accessible for the average American.

And as part of new sweeping changes coming to healthcare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has said they are changing how vaccines will be delivered in the US.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Government bureaucracies should never coerce doctors or families into accepting vaccines or penalize physicians for respecting patient choice. That practice ends now.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr took to X to announce the news (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

"Under the Trump administration, HHS will protect informed consent, respect religious liberty, and uphold medical freedom."

The health secretary continued: "That practice ends now. Under the Trump administration, HHS will protect informed consent, respect religious liberty, and uphold medical freedom."

The official announcement report states that four measures are being removed from the Child and Adult Core Sets, which include childhood immunization status, immunizations for adolescents, as well as prenatal immunization status for those under 21s and those above that age category.

Essentially, it means vaccines will no longer be included in the assessment of health care provision quality for those who are getting their healthcare through Medicaid and CHIP.

The Trump administration has long pushed for vaccines to be a personal choice for individuals, rather than being a requirement or a recommendation by the government.

The Trump administration is making more changes to healthcare (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Critics state, however, that the move could decrease the number of people being vaccinated, which is already declining. As such, the US has seen an increase in cases of measles and whooping cough.

On the other hand, Newsweek notes supporters of the latest move by the Trump administration will see the move as a positive for doctors who will no longer be 'financially punished if patients decline vaccines, including for religious reasons.

It comes after Trump told America last year that the FDA is supposedly advising that pregnant women 'limit Tylenol use' and suggested that the drug is responsible for the 'meteoric rise' in cases of autism – something the medication brand has denied.

There is no scientific proof that this is the case.