Less Isn't Always Better

Less Isn’t Always Better

Less Isn’t Always Better https://aepc.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/iStock-1021583776-scaled.jpeg 2560 1875 AEPC Health AEPC Health //aepc.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AEPC-LOGO-v1.png January 10, 2026 January 10, 2026

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule to more closely resemble Denmark’s, he framed the move as plain common sense. Danish children, he argued, are healthier than American children. Denmark gives fewer shots. Therefore, fewer shots must be better.

It’s a tidy argument. It’s also a deeply flawed one.

The appeal is easy to understand. Parents can feel overwhelmed by the number and timing of childhood immunizations. The idea that “Denmark does less, and their kids are healthier” offers comforting simplicity. But public health is not built on comforting stories. It is built on evidence, context, and systems. And that’s where a Danish fairy tale offers an uncomfortably perfect warning.

Seeing What Isn’t
In Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, an emperor becomes obsessed with fine clothing. Two swindlers promise him magical garments visible only to the wise and worthy. Afraid of appearing foolish or unfit, officials play along, praising clothes that do not exist. The emperor does the same. The entire town nods in agreement—until a child blurts out the obvious truth: the emperor isn’t wearing anything at all.

Andersen wasn’t just writing about vanity. He was writing about what happens when narrative replaces reality—and when people are too afraid, or too invested, to say what they plainly see.

Vaccine Policy Is Not a Fashion Statement
The comparison to Denmark risks the same mistake. Denmark’s childhood vaccine schedule includes fewer routine doses than the U.S. schedule. Denmark does not routinely vaccinate against rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, varicella, hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, or Covid-19. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. points to this as evidence that American children are over-vaccinated.

What this framing ignores is that vaccine schedules are not international fashion trends. They are evidence-based tools shaped by local realities: population size, disease risk, healthcare access, travel patterns, and the ability to detect and contain outbreaks. Fewer vaccines do not mean unnecessary vaccines were removed—it means fewer diseases are being prevented.

The consequences are real. Each year, about 1,200 Danish children are hospitalized with severe dehydration from rotavirus, and more than 2,800—mostly under six months old—are hospitalized with RSV-related pneumonia. Adjusted for population size, these rates mirror those seen in the United States before vaccination. By contrast, routine rotavirus vaccination in the U.S. has virtually eliminated roughly 70,000 hospitalizations each year. New maternal RSV vaccines and RSV-specific monoclonal antibodies have reduced infant RSV hospitalizations by about 50 percent.

Denmark is an outlier among wealthy nations. The United Kingdom recommends 15 childhood vaccines and is adding varicella in 2026. Germany recommends 14 and added meningococcal B in 2025. Canada recommends 16. Australia recommends 15. Until recently, the U.S. schedule aligned closely with these peers; it now covers just 11 diseases, down from 17.

The U.S. Is Not Denmark
This context matters. Denmark is not simply a smaller America. It is a nation of fewer than six million people—about the size of Wisconsin—with universal, tax-funded healthcare, seamless digital health records, guaranteed prenatal screening, and virtually no loss to follow-up. Denmark’s child poverty rate is about 4 percent, compared to roughly 20 percent in the U.S. Childhood obesity rates in the U.S. are three to four times higher. Parents in Denmark receive 46 weeks of paid maternity leave.

The United States, with more than 330 million people, wide gaps in healthcare access, uneven public health infrastructure, and high rates of poverty and obesity, does not operate on that kind of smooth, well-paved road. You can’t drop a Danish-sized solution onto an American-sized problem and expect it to work.

Just Naked
Adding to concerns, these changes bypassed the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), sidestepping the usual process of expert review, public input, and transparent deliberation. They arrived directly from HHS leadership, with no new scientific evidence supporting the changes.

In The Emperor’s New Clothes, everyone pretends the clothes are real—until a child speaks up. In public health, pretending a simple story can replace evidence doesn’t just look foolish. It puts children at risk.

Happy reading,
Suzanne Daniels, Ph.D.

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