As Vaccine Guidance Changes, Here’s What I Want Parents to Know This School Year
As parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. We think about what they eat, whether they are getting enough sleep, and what they need to stay healthy. And when we send them to school, we trust that the classroom will be a place where they can learn, grow, and spend time with their friends safely.
But as a pediatrician, I also think about the things parents cannot always see. Viruses can move quickly through classrooms, sometimes before families even know their child has been exposed. Some illnesses we rarely had to think about in recent years are also becoming part of the conversation again.
Measles is one of them. It is highly contagious and can lead to complications including pneumonia and serious ear infections and, in rare cases, inflammation of the brain. Measles can also affect the immune system’s memory, making it harder for the body to fight infections it had previously learned to recognize.
For many parents, this comes at a time when vaccine recommendations and guidance are changing, and it is understandable to have questions. What does my child actually need? Are they protected? Has something changed since their last doctor’s visit? These are the kinds of questions I hear from families, and they are exactly the questions we should be talking about as children start the new school year.
One thing that is important to know is that federal vaccine recommendations and school vaccine requirements are not the same thing. States determine which vaccines children need to attend school, so requirements can vary depending on where your family lives.
But changes at the federal level still matter because they can influence the information families receive and the decisions they are being asked to make.
As a pediatrician and a father, my concern is not that parents are asking questions. Questions are important. I want parents to ask me why their child needs a vaccine, how we know it is safe, what side effects they should expect, and what may have changed since their last visit.
My concern is when parents do not have the clear, reliable information they need to answer those questions.
When fewer children are protected, diseases have more opportunities to spread.
I often explain this to families by asking them to imagine a boat. One small hole may let in some water while the boat continues to float. But as more holes appear, more water gets in, weakening the protection of everyone on board.
Right now, we are starting to see more of those holes. During the 2025-2026 school year, a record 4.2% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one required vaccine. MMR vaccination coverage among kindergartners was 92.4%, below the 95% level needed to help prevent measles outbreaks.
Vaccination works in a similar way. When most people are protected, it becomes much harder for a virus to move from one person to another.
When those protections begin to disappear, the risk does not belong only to the unvaccinated child. It also affects babies, children with weakened immune systems, and people who cannot receive certain vaccines for medical reasons.
This is one reason the proposed change to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine deserves attention. Separating the dose into individual vaccines does not mean children suddenly need protection against fewer diseases. Instead, it can mean more individual injections and more opportunities for a child to miss or delay part of that protection.
Parents may also be wondering whether new scientific evidence has shown that the childhood vaccines we have used for years are no longer safe.
Science should change when the evidence changes. If strong new research shows us a safer or more effective way to protect children, I want to know about it as a pediatrician, and I want parents to know about it too.
But changes in medical recommendations should also come with clear explanations of the evidence behind them. Parents deserve to understand not only what is changing, but why.
What I want families to know right now is that decades of research support the safety of routine childhood vaccines, and studies have consistently found no causal relationship between vaccines and autism.
If you are wondering what any of these changes mean for your child, bring those questions to your pediatrician. You should not have to sort through conflicting headlines and social media posts alone.
What should parents do as their children start the new school year?
A great start is to check your child’s vaccination record. If you are unsure whether they are up to date, ask your pediatrician what is recommended for their age and whether they need any catch-up doses.
You can also look at recommendations from medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and bring any questions about those recommendations to your child’s doctor.
Most importantly, if something you heard about a vaccine makes you nervous, bring that concern into the exam room. Show us the video you watched, bring the article you read, tell us what a friend or family member said that made you hesitate. Give us the opportunity to understand what you are hearing and talk through it together.
I often tell families that I am their waiter, not their judge. My job is to explain the menu, tell them what I recommend and why, answer their questions, and have an honest conversation about the benefits and risks.
Parents should never feel embarrassed for wanting to understand what is going into their child’s body. Asking questions is part of being a parent, and answering them is part of my job as a pediatrician.
At a time when families are hearing so many different messages about vaccines, you should not have to figure it all out on your own. Start with the questions you have, bring them to someone you trust with your child’s health, and keep the conversation going.
Biography
Dr. Ilan Shapiro is a pediatrician and the Chief Health Correspondent and Medical Affairs Officer at AltaMed Health Services in Los Angeles. Read more about him and other members of the Aquí Speakers Bureau, an initiative of Aquí: The Accountability Movement that connects experts on issues of importance to the Latino community with national and regional media outlets here.
Contact media@communicationsshop.us to book Dr. Shapiro or other members of the Aquí Speakers Bureau for media interviews, conferences, and speaking engagements.
Download a headshot of Dr. Ilan Shapiro here.
Resources
• HealthyChildren.org
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/immunizations/Pages/default.aspx
• American Academy of Pediatrics Immunization Schedule
https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/immunizations/aap-immunization-faq/
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center
https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center
• Vaccinate Your Family
https://vaccinateyourfamily.org/
• World Health Organization
https://www.who.int/health-topics/vaccines-and-immunization
• Vaccine Makers Project