WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday gave his endorsement to a January study by the Department of Health and Human Services that calls for cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every American child.
An executive order from Trump directs federal agencies to align their policies behind the study, which recommended an overhaul long called for by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The study found that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than many peer nations.
The Trump administration previously moved to narrow the number of recommended childhood vaccines in response to the report, but the move was blocked by a federal judge in Massachusetts. The administration is appealing the decision.
The study recommends vaccinating all children against 11 diseases. Several others would be recommended only for high-risk groups or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.” That includes vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
Trump's order adds weight behind the study at a time when the administration had appeared to be trying to shift focus away from Kennedy's more contentious vaccine policies and toward more mainstream topics like healthy eating.
The order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the study and “take any appropriate steps” to update its vaccine recommendations. It says the CDC should “provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors" and directs agencies to make sure all actions, regulations and funding are aligned with the study.
The order adds that any changes should ensure that Americans retain their current access to vaccines.
States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.
Trump directed HHS to carry out the study in December.
Kennedy is a longtime activist against vaccines and has sought ways to inject his skepticism about the shots into national guidance. Last year, he announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, a move questions by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.
Last June, he fired a 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee and later installed several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptics.
The January report found that vaccine recommendations for American children had increased in recent decades. It also highlighted countries where no vaccines are required to attend school.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) — US has conducted defensive strikes on some Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, US official says.
THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP's earlier story is below.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance offered measured optimism on Monday that a deal can still be struck to prevent President Donald Trump from following through on his threat to potentially order new strikes on Iran after the crucial midterm elections in the United States.
Vance sent a letter to Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, last week, but the White House has offered scant details about the contents of that correspondence. Trump told reporters that letter was focused on assisting Iran with “medical supplies and various things.”
But Vance on Monday suggested there's reason to believe that the U.S. and Iran could still come to an agreement.
“We’ve had a number of good conversations with the Iranians,” Vance told reporters on Monday when asked about the letter. “I actually just spoke with the president of the United States about an hour ago about this. Look, the president and I both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement. We’re going to keep on working at it.”
Vance's comments came as the region remains on edge about the prospects of the U.S. resuming full-scale operations against Iran. The backchannel efforts are playing out as Israel and some Middle East allies lobby Trump on the way ahead in the 8-month-old war that's rattled global markets and wreaked havoc on Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for another wave of strikes on Iran after Tuesday's elections in the United States, according to two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter.
A return to full-scale war with Iran could help Netanyahu to form an emergency government after he and his far-right allies lost their parliamentary majority in last week's elections. Trump has alternated between threatening major strikes and pushing for a deal with Iran.
The two officials said diplomatic efforts have made progress, with Qatari mediators holding two rounds of talks last week with Iranian officials. The two officials said the mediators are trying to advance a framework for Iran to cease its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran's ports.
They said more talks are planned for this week. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified briefings they had received from American, and in one case Israeli, officials.
One official said Netanyahu was working with senior officials in the U.S. administration to persuade Trump to launch a quick but extensive air campaign and that the president does not appear to have made a decision.
Netanyahu pressed for strikes during a call over the weekend with Trump, who would not commit to taking military action, according to a person who was briefed on it.
Other U.S. allies in the Middle East are warning against more strikes, saying that would destabilize the region and could lead Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen to step up their attacks on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping, a third regional official said. Iran-backed militias in Iraq could also get involved.
The Israeli government did not immediately comment. The White House did not directly respond to questions about Netanyahu and Trump’s discussion of potential new strikes during the weekend call.
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said he spoke by phone on Monday with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about “the latest regional and international developments" and the Houthis' continued attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu had pushed for renewed strikes even before the Israeli election as he sought to highlight his security credentials to a public deeply scarred by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
But the war has also loomed large for American voters ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections.
Oil prices dropped sharply on Monday as renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war between the U.S. and Iran appeared to show signs of headway. Rising prices at the pump, a byproduct of the war, have been a weight on Trump’s Republican Party as it tries to maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
Trump noted the drop in a speech in Washington on Monday, which was billed as his closing argument to Americans, and sought to minimize the scale of the conflict, which has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $47 billion.
“I don’t know if you even call it a war, because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months,” Trump said.
Netanyahu has not commented on Iran since the Israeli election, and there was no word from his office on the latest call with Trump.
Iran wants guarantees that the U.S. will implement its side of any agreement. The U.S. and Israel have twice attacked Iran while it was engaged in negotiations over its disputed nuclear program.
Iranian officials say publicly they are prepared for war or diplomacy.
The new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, met with Iran’s military chiefs and said the response to “any kind and level of threat” from the U.S. or Israel should be immediate and without “geographic limits,” and urged an expansion of the list of potential targets.
A recent analysis by The Associated Press found that Iranian strikes on more than two dozen U.S. bases since the start of the war have caused billions of dollars in equipment damage.
Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the opening strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28, which killed his father, the previous supreme leader.
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, told state television that “the tone has completely changed” from the U.S. and called it a “very good sign.” He also gave no details about the letter he received from Vance, which Iran acknowledged last week, and said he had not responded.
Meanwhile, Vance told reporters on Monday that the Republican administration's foremost concern is Iran agreeing to take substantive action on its nuclear program.
“We do think that there is a pathway there, but it really does require a firm commitment and a verifiable commitment that they don’t rebuild that nuclear program,” Vance added.
October saw the most attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since March, as Iran has tried to ramp up economic pressure on the U.S. to get it to lift its blockade.
The mood was grim at the Manama Dialogue, an annual security summit in Bahrain organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told attendees the U.S. and Iranian stances are far apart, and “if these positions are not bridged, then we have to worry about the worst.”
Gulf nations have spent billions of dollars to boost their defense capabilities since the war began. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told the gathering in Bahrain that the next escalation “will be more dangerous, more destructive, and it will lead to nowhere.”
China will send a special envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early to mid-November, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Monday.
Magdy reported from New York and Anna reported from Jerusalem. Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong and Katie Marie Davies in London contributed to this report.
AP STANDARDS: The AP uses anonymous sources only when the information is vital to the news report and not opinion or speculation. The information must be unavailable except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source. The source must be reliable, in a position to have accurate information and approved by news managers.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Vice President JD Vance talks with reporters after arriving on Air Force Two, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Tom Brenner/Pool via AP)
Supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protest against left-wing activists calling for the formation of a government that includes Arab parties, following Israel's general election, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn of the White House after stepping off Marine One, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Posters of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, center, and his father, the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are seen alongside dried flowers on a barricade placed on the street leading to their residence compound where the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during the U.S. and Israel strike on Feb. 28, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
