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NAM to DHS: Keep What Works in the Federal Vaccine Schedule

By NAM NewsroomOctober 1, 2026

NAM urges HHS to preserve core strengths of the federal vaccine schedule

A sound, science-based immunization schedule is critical to public health and the U.S. manufacturing sector, and as the administration considers changes, it should “preserve the framework’s core strengths,” the NAM told the Department of Health and Human Services recently.

What’s going on: “Vaccines are fundamentally smart science and a profound good for humanity, ensuring that communities remain resilient against health threats and giving every generation the opportunity to live healthier, fuller and more productive lives,” the NAM said last month in response to a call for public input on federal vaccine recommendations.

  • Low vaccination rates “reduce manufacturing productivity through escalating transmission risks and subsequent increases in worker absenteeism and presenteeism,” the NAM continued, adding that in 2015, productivity losses connected to absenteeism cost U.S. employers nearly $320 billion in 2025 dollars, with manufacturing alone losing nearly $30 billion.
  • Vaccines, the NAM said, play a “vital role in sustaining the American economy and workforce.”

What the administration should do: Several HHS actions would bolster federal vaccine recommendations, including:

  • Maintaining the current structure’s fundamental strengths, including comprehensive “review of the totality of available evidence” and clear, practical and consistently applied recommendation categories;
  • Preserving vaccine access for adults and children;
  • Ensuring that healthcare-provider counseling complements rather than replaces evidence-based recommendations;
  • Anchoring “all federal vaccine recommendations in sound science”; and
  • Rebuilding public trust in federal health agencies by “sharing what is known, what remains uncertain and what ongoing studies seek to clarify.”

The final word: “When workers are healthy, production lines run smoothly, supply chains operate efficiently and the economy grows. When manufacturing workers or their families are sick, delays spread, supply chains strain and economic impacts are felt outside the shop floor,” said NAM Director of Healthcare Policy Jeremy Isenberg.

In case you missed it: Check out the NAM’s recent report detailing the economic costs of falling vaccine rates.