The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has once again chosen to chart its own course, differing from the federal government’s recent vaccine guidelines. The AAP has released its 2026 immunization recommendations for children, advising vaccinations for diseases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently removed from its schedule.

On Monday, the AAP unveiled its 2026 Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule. This schedule includes vaccines for hepatitis A and B, meningococcal disease, rotavirus, the flu, and RSV—illnesses that the CDC decided to exclude from their latest child immunization recommendations.

While referencing the CDC’s current immunization guidance for children and adolescents, the AAP made it clear that it does not support the new federal schedule.

Upon the release of the CDC’s updated schedule, the AAP was quick to criticize it, labeling the changes as “dangerous and unnecessary.”

In a statement, AAP President Andrew Racine expressed concern, saying, “At a time when parents, pediatricians, and the public seek clear guidance and accurate information, this poorly thought-out decision will only create more chaos and confusion, undermining trust in vaccinations.”

The AAP has repeatedly found itself at odds with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“The updated CDC childhood schedule continues to protect children against serious diseases while aligning U.S. guidance with international norms. Many peer nations achieve high vaccination rates without mandates by relying on trust, education, and strong doctor-patient relationships, and HHS will work with states and clinicians to ensure families have clear, accurate information to make their own informed decisions,” an HHS spokesperson told The Hill when reached for comment.

Last year, the AAP boycotted the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting, citing the removal of itself and other liaison organizations from committee work groups.

The group, which represents about 67,000 pediatricians, also denounced decisions by Kennedy’s remade ACIP to no longer recommend vaccines like the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine.

The AAP, along with other health organizations, is suing the Trump administration over its reduced childhood immunization schedule.

“We are confident that we will demonstrate for the court that this administration has acted arbitrarily and capriciously in revisions to the childhood immunization schedule and, furthermore, that the current ACIP will continue this destructive pattern if allowed to continue meeting,” said Richard Hughes IV, attorney for the plaintiffs.

The Trump administration in December cancelled $12 million in grants to the AAP, in what the organization argued was a “retaliatory” move for its outspoken opposition to Kennedy’s changes. A federal judge earlier this month ordered the Trump administration to restore these funds.

The AAP is also currently suing to have the members of the ACIP replaced and to have the decisions made by this updated panel reversed.