Better in their words…

by Henrick Karoliszyn, DSW

NOVEMBER 10, 2026

8 min

The Trump administration missed its Nov. 8 deadline to deliver recommendations to improve childhood vaccine safety, including separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three shots, studying alternatives to aluminum adjuvants, and improving vaccine safety monitoring.

President Donald Trump’s Aug. 10 executive order gave the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines 90 days to submit its proposals to the White House.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised to meet the deadline when Trump signed the executive order.

“We will bring you actions and findings as soon as they are ready,” Kennedy said. “We will not wait for the 90 day period. And within 90 days, as you have directed, we will deliver the full response required by this executive order.”

The deadline passed Nov. 8 without a public announcement that the task force had completed or delivered its recommendations.

A spokesperson for HHS this week did not directly respond to specific questions, including whether the agency had set a new deadline. However, in a statement, HHS told The Defender that health officials are still working on creating safer vaccine protocols.

“The Department of Health and Human Services is actively implementing President Trump’s Executive Order on Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations,” the spokesperson said.

According to the HHS statement:

“The HHS Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines is working to strengthen vaccine safety research, improve transparency, and expand options for American families. This work requires careful scientific review, and HHS remains committed to advancing the President’s priorities through gold standard science and informed parental choice.”

Task force revived after lawsuit backed by Children’s Health Defense

The missed deadline is the latest development for the federal vaccine safety panel, which resumed work after attorney Ray Flores sued HHS to revive it. Children’s Health Defense (CHD) backed the lawsuit, which Flores filed in May 2025.

As The Defender previously reported, Flores alleged that HHS had failed for decades to comply with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

The law requires the department to promote the development of childhood vaccines with fewer and less serious adverse reactions, establish a task force of senior federal health officials and periodically report to Congress on efforts to improve vaccine safety.

According to Flores’ lawsuit, the original task force was established in 1990, but disbanded in 1998 and never reestablished.

The complaint also pointed to the growth of the childhood immunization schedule. It stated that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 1983 schedule included four different vaccines, while the 2025 schedule included more than 75 doses across 19 vaccines.

Flores, who sued HHS as a private citizen, argued that the expansion made the law’s requirements for ongoing safety evaluation even more crucial.

As a California attorney who moved his family to Nevada, Flores gave HHS 60 days’ notice in March 2025 that he intended to file suit.

When HHS didn’t respond, Flores sued the agency, alleging it had failed for decades to carry out the 1986 federal law’s requirements around vaccine safety.

In August 2025, shortly before the deadline to respond to Flores’ lawsuit, HHS reinstated the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines.

HHS has not said the lawsuit prompted the task force’s restoration.

In a news release, shortly after reinstating the task force, HHS said it would include senior leadership from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the CDC, with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya serving as chairman.

The group was to work with the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines.

When Trump expanded the task force’s responsibilities in August, Flores welcomed the decision to require plans within 90 days rather than wait for the panel’s report to Congress.

When the deadline passed without meaningful updates from the HHS, Flores wrote on Substack: “Today is the day, and the report is nowhere in sight. … I admit the delay is a bit frustrating.”

What the task force aimed to deliver

According to an Aug. 10 White House fact sheet, the administration aims to give parents more choices about childhood vaccinations while aligning federal recommendations with those of other developed countries.

The order followed an earlier executive order signed May 29, which directed federal health officials to review childhood vaccination recommendations and consider changes to the national immunization schedule that would be more in line with those of peer nations.

In August, HHS also sought public comments on federal vaccine recommendations and the role of shared decision-making between doctors and patients.

The comment period closed Sept. 20.

However, the department has not publicly explained how those comments may influence the task force’s recommendations or when the task force will deliver its recommendations.

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What happens now?

The executive order does not specify a penalty if HHS misses the 90-day deadline.

The department can continue developing its proposals, but it remains unclear when the final recommendations will be delivered, whether they will be released publicly or how quickly any changes could be implemented.

CHD scientist Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., said the deeply politicized nature of vaccinations could affect what comes next.

“It is a complex affair to even plan work with the pharmaceutical industry, the medical establishments, and the public health agencies when those very institutions are working against you,” he said. “There are no smooth roads between where we are and where we need to be.”

Others suggest that an extended deadline would give HHS more time to produce more thorough recommendations.

“I believe that any changes to vaccination policies should be based on robust scientific evidence, transparent evaluation, and a careful assessment of benefits and risks,” said Konstantinos Poulas, Ph.D., head of the laboratory of molecular biology at the University of Patras, Greece.

Flores wrote that Stephen Miller, who succeeded White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — a former lobbyist and political consultant for the pharmaceutical industry — could shape a more vigorous change to how vaccinations are administered in America.

“Perhaps he [Miller] is allowing Secretary Kennedy and the Task Force to actually do something meaningful on vaccines,” wrote Flores. “So they need time to rewrite and release a hard-hitting report.”

The missed deadline leaves unresolved the central issue behind Flores’ original lawsuit: whether the federal government will establish a sustained process for evaluating childhood vaccine safety and regularly report its findings.

“When it comes to vaccines, choice, personalized risk-benefit balancing, aluminum risk-aware formulations and competent safety monitoring were simply never part of the equation,” Jablonowski said. “You can’t just stick them into existing equations — you have to invent a whole new math.”

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Henrick Karoliszyn, DSW

Henrick Karoliszyn, DSW, is an investigative reporter for The Defender.