The Minnesota Department of Health will no longer align its vaccination guidance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state agency announced Thursday.

The change follows the CDC’s Jan. 5 action to recategorize some childhood immunizations, including hepatitis B and influenza, as only recommended for high-risk groups or “based on shared clinical decision-making.”

“This change at the federal level does not reflect the best available science,” Dr. Brooke Cunningham, Minnesota’s health commissioner, said in a statement.

The MDH will, instead, follow immunization guidance from three professional physician groups: for children, the American Academy of Pediatrics; for adults, the American Academy of Family Physicians; and for vaccines during pregnancy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

“Aligning our recommendations with professional medical associations helps provide clarity and stability for families and providers by using a proven set of recommendations that doctors, and other clinicians, already know and trust,” Cunningham said.

MDH broke from federal guidance in September 2025, when it recommended that anyone 6 months old and older should receive the COVID-19 vaccine “without additional barriers.” That countered a CDC committee’s endorsement of vaccination based on “individual-decision making.”

That decision also aligned with guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

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