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New Mexico will maintain its full childhood vaccine schedule, despite rollbacks by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The state Health Department's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Miranda Durham, said New Mexico will stick with the 30-year-old, evidence-based vaccination schedule – noting the state regularly is a flu hotspot, has a high rate of hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses and logged more than 100 cases of measles last year.

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"For all those reasons," said Durham, "we felt that the AAP schedule – the American Academy of Pediatrics schedule – was the one that was best for us, and that's the one we've endorsed for years."

The current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has downgraded five vaccines as optional – including for flu, RSV, and hepatitis A.

That prompted the West Coast Health Alliance – which includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington – to reject the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine recommendations, calling the changes “dangerous” and “politicized.”

In announcing the new vaccine recommendations, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said they were not based on new scientific evidence or safety data.

Durham said all childhood vaccinations in New Mexico will continue to be covered under the Vaccines for Children Program, Medicaid, and private insurance.

She said she believes they're safe, effective and save children’s lives – and said she doesn't want parents to face uncertainty when visiting their health provider.

"We have great access in the state, no one's paying for the vaccines," said Durham, "so we just don't want confusion to a be reason that parents aren't getting their children vaccinated."

Durham noted that the recent drop-off in measles vaccines resulted in more than 2,000 cases nationwide last year, the highest number in a single year in more than three decades.

In 2025, New Mexico passed a state law authorizing the state Department of Health to set vaccination recommendations independent of the CDC, after inconsistent federal recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic.