[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 156 (Friday, August 14, 2026)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 53173-53175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-16730]
[[Page 53171]]
Vol. 91
Friday,
No. 156
August 14, 2026
Part XXX
The President
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Order 14420--Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine
Recommendations for Americans
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 91 , No. 156 / Friday, August 14, 2026 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 53173]]
Executive Order 14420 of August 10, 2026
Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine
Recommendations for Americans
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Pursuant to the
Presidential Memorandum of December 5, 2025 (Aligning
United States Core Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
with Best Practices from Peer, Developed Countries),
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
completed a scientific assessment, which identified a
set of consensus vaccines that are consistently
recommended in all peer countries and found that the
United States currently recommends more childhood
vaccines than any peer nation, including more than
twice as many vaccine doses as some European nations
(scientific assessment). The scientific assessment also
found that, instead of implementing vaccination
mandates, most peer nations maintain high childhood
vaccination rates through public trust and education.
In the United States, by contrast, individual States
set mandatory vaccination requirements that children
must meet to attend school.
Executive Order 14407 of May 29, 2026 (Realigning
United States Core Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
With Best Practices From Peer, Developed Countries),
committed the Federal Government to ensuring that
Americans are receiving the best scientifically
supported medical advice in the world, as well as to
protecting religious liberty and parental authority.
However, implementation of my Administration's prior
directives regarding childhood vaccines has been
delayed due to litigation over the composition of the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and
separate updates to the Federal vaccine schedule.
Therefore, I am taking further action to reaffirm that
it is the policy of the United States that the core
childhood vaccine recommendations should be aligned
with scientific evidence and best practices from peer,
developed countries while preserving access to vaccines
currently available to Americans. Further, it is the
policy of my Administration that Federal programs and
funding should support maximal parental choice over
childhood vaccines, consistent with the Federal
Government's constitutional and statutory obligations
and the fundamental principles of personal autonomy and
informed consent.
Sec. 2. Recommendations for Childhood and Adolescent
Vaccines. (a) Based on consultation with my advisors
and review of available scientific evidence, it is
hereby declared that the United States recognizes Gold
Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations informed by
the three distinct categories of childhood immunization
recommendations identified in the scientific
assessment, as specified below:
(i) immunizations recommended for all children: measles, mumps, rubella,
diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B,
pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella;
(ii) immunizations recommended for certain high-risk groups or populations:
respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis
B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY, and dengue; and
(iii) immunizations based on shared clinical decision-making: hepatitis A,
hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza, and COVID-19.
[[Page 53174]]
(b) The Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine
Recommendations also recognize that the combined
measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should be
administered in three separate single-disease shots
once such products are domestically available and that,
to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood
immunizations should be administered at separate
medical visits.
(c) Each executive department and agency shall
review the Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine
Recommendations and take any appropriate steps to
advance them, to the fullest extent allowable by law.
(d) States and territories are advised to review
the Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations and
consider updating relevant laws and regulations that
define the scope of immunization requirements for
contexts such as school enrollment and attendance based
on the scientific assessment and best practices from
peer, developed countries.
(e) The United States will routinely reassess the
Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
according to the findings of the HHS Task Force on
Safer Childhood Vaccines as specified in section 3 of
this order.
Sec. 3. Improving Vaccine Research and Options for
American Parents. The Secretary of HHS, through the HHS
Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, shall, within
90 days of the date of this order, present plans to the
President through the Assistant to the President for
Domestic Policy to, to the extent appropriate and
consistent with applicable law:
(a) offer options to administer core childhood
vaccines, starting with MMR, as single vaccines rather
than combination products/doses, including by working
with the private sector and other countries as
appropriate, while guaranteeing continued availability
of combination vaccines and those vaccines recommended
for shared clinical decision-making;
(b) assess the ideal timing and sequencing of all
core childhood vaccines and adjust the Federal
childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule as
appropriate based on gold-standard science;
(c) develop additional alternative adjuvants to
aluminum and conduct comparative safety and efficacy
studies;
(d) ensure continuous evaluation of the risk/
benefit profiles of all childhood vaccines based on
United States and international data; and
(e) improve vaccine safety monitoring,
transparency, and research.
Sec. 4. Maximizing Parental Choice over Childhood
Vaccines. (a) The Attorney General shall take
appropriate measures to further meritorious legal
actions challenging State laws that conflict with
States' constitutional and Federal statutory
obligations related to parental authority, religious
freedom, disability accommodations, and equal
protection under the law, including, to the extent
applicable under Federal law, States' obligations to
provide religious and medical exemptions from childhood
and adolescent immunization requirements.
(b) The Departments of Justice, Education, and HHS
shall take appropriate action to ensure that their
contractors and grantees, including States and
localities, are compliant with their constitutional and
Federal statutory obligations related to parental
authority, religious freedom, disability
accommodations, and equal protection under the law,
including, to the extent applicable under Federal law,
their obligations to provide religious and medical
exemptions from childhood and adolescent immunization
requirements.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
[[Page 53175]]
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall
be borne by the Department of Health and Human
Services.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 10, 2026.
[FR Doc. 2026-16730
Filed 8-13-26; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4150-28-P