State health officials issue vaccine schedule amid ongoing shifts in federal vaccine guidance

Maryland health officials issued a first-ever state vaccine schedule Thursday ahead of the annual flu and respiratory illness season, under a new policy created to buck anti-vaccine messaging from the Trump administration in recent years.

The guidelines were issued by Health Secretary Meena Seshamani using her new authority under the Vax Act, which authorizes the state to set vaccine recommendations based on guidelines from established health groups, independent of federal guidelines from of agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The law also ensures that those treatments are covered by insurance companies in Maryland and allows pharmacists to administer vaccinations to anyone age 3 or older without a prescription from a doctor.

“Vaccines remain one of the most effective public health tools we have to protect our families and keep our communities safe from a preventable disease,” Seshamani said in a call with reporters Thursday. “As a parent navigating back-to-school germs and the upcoming respiratory virus season, I know how overwhelming it can be to filter through the shifting federal news.”

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There aren’t many surprises in the state vaccine schedule, which aligns with recommendations issued by medical societies such as American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

It recommends a familiar list of about a dozen vaccinations for children, including polio, measles chicken pox and more, before they enter school. Annual flu and COVID-19 shots are rec0mmended for adults, and additional vaccinations may be recommended for those who are immunocompromised.

The state vaccine schedule is part of a larger effort by the Moore administration to push back against anti-vaccine messaging from the Trump administration.

Since Trump began his second term in office, various agencies in his administration have bucked decades of vaccination recommendations supported by scientific research and top medical organizations. That has led to public confusion over vaccine safety and best practices, say Maryland health officials.

Earlier this year, the CDC reduced the number of vaccinations recommended for all children. Vaccinations protecting children against rotavirus, influenza, COVID-19 and hepatitis A and B are now recommended only for those with severe health complications, or after consultation with a health care provider, rather than being broadly recommended for all children, as they had been.

The Vax Act, passed this year, allows the health secretary to reference federal guidance from the CDC or the federal Food and Drug Administration, but neither agency was explicitly credited as guideposts for the Maryland vaccine schedule unveiled Thursday.

Instead, Maryland’s Deputy Director of Public Health Services Meg Sullivan said the state recommendations emphasize the importance of certain vaccines where messaging from the Trump administration has created more “confusion” over vaccine safety and effectiveness.

“First and foremost, our goal with these recommendations is try to create one place where there is clear recommendations to try to eliminate the confusion,” Sullivan said. “This includes continuing to recommend the hepatitis B completed series, beginning with the birth dose. Continuing the importance of the MMR [measles, mumps and rubella]  vaccine given as a single vaccine … meaning giving all three components together. Continuing to stress the importance of respiratory virus vaccines.”

Sullivan said the recommendations do not create any vaccine mandates, and the vaccines needed to enter school are unchanged.

The new recommendation also comes on the heels of recent measles outbreaks declared a few weeks ago in St. Mary’s, Cecil and Carroll counties. Sullivan said that the number of confirmed measles cases in the state has risen to 40 this year, compared to a handful in a typical year, but she hopes the new recommendations can help encourage vaccination uptake in areas where vaccine coverage is lower.

“Measles in the state are very top of mind and something we are watching very closely,” she said. “We’re hoping this schedule is part of a broader effort to continue to maintain our high MMR vaccine rates across the state and hopefully prevent future cases of measles.”

With the upcoming respiratory illness season coming up, Sullivan urges families to plan to get their annual vaccines soon so they are protected. She suggested that the end of October is a “good target date” to get those vaccinations done.

“This is a good time to be thinking about your annual flu shot and reviewing the recommendations for the updated annual COVID vaccine and the RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] vaccine,” she said.