Dr. Frank Contacessa told Newsmax viewers Wednesday that the Trump administration's move to reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccines and align the U.S. schedule more closely with Denmark's is an important change that he believes could help curb chronic childhood illness.
Appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Contacessa framed the decision as overdue, arguing that today's American kids receive far more injections than in previous generations.
"This is a major step forward, I think for the movement," he said. "We've been looking at this stuff for a long time."
Contacessa said he was born in the 1970s and noted the schedule then was much lighter compared to what today's children receive.
"I'm 50 years old," he said. "When I was born in the '70s, we would have had far fewer injections than we're currently doing today."
He emphasized that the new approach is "modeled on the Denmark model," saying that the Nordic country was chosen for its pediatric health outcomes.
"The reason that they chose that country is because their rates of chronic illness in their children are far lower than the rates in our own children," Contacessa said.
Contacessa pointed to a wide range of conditions where he believes Denmark's numbers outperform those of the United States, including "neurodevelopmental disorders, ADHD," "the autism spectrum disorders," and "childhood obesity." He said those differences help explain why policymakers want to realign the schedule.
"Their rates are far better than ours, and that's why we're aligning ourselves with them," he said.
At the same time, Contacessa stressed that vaccine guidance is not one-size-fits-all and said the recommendations should be tailored based on individual risk.
"These recommendations are for healthy children," he said. "The recommendations are different for higher-risk children."
He also differentiated between routine childhood immunization and other shots, saying some vaccines still play a clear role in protecting against severe disease.
"Of course we want to protect them from the most serious things like polio," he said, while adding that "for routine illnesses, it's really no big deal."
Contacessa also weighed in on adult vaccination — particularly COVID-19 shots — taking a firm stance for healthy individuals.
"No healthy children and really no healthy people should be getting COVID vaccinations," he said.
He was more mixed on flu vaccines, arguing their effectiveness varies and is especially weak this season.
"The flu shot is debatable," he said. "This year, it's not working very well at all."
"Even on a good year," he added, "it doesn't work terribly well," though he said "you can make a case maybe for an older, sicker person."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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