Episode Details

A federal judge has halted changes from the Department of Health and Human Services to the childhood immunization schedule and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice. In this episode: the impact of this decision and what comes next.

Sarah Despres, JD, is a lawyer with over 25 years of experience in public health policy and advocacy and is an expert on immunization policy. She served as counselor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2021-2025.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Show links and related content:

• Judge blocks US government from slimming down vaccine recommendations—Associated Press

• Trust in federal government drops when it comes to childhood vaccines, poll suggests—CIDRAP

• HHS Changes Its Pediatric Vaccine Recommendations: What's Different, What Remains, and What It Means for American Health—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Changes to the CDC's Vaccine Advisory Committee—Public Health On Call (June 2025)