H.R. 87 (119th)Bill Overview

Protecting Our Children from the CDC Act

Health|Cardiovascular and respiratory healthChild health
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Jan 3, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

The bill prohibits the HHS Secretary and HHS offices from placing any COVID-19 vaccine on the child and adolescent immunization schedule unless the CDC posts all clinical data HHS possesses about that vaccine’s safety and efficacy on the CDC public website. It requires deidentification of posted data, removes any COVID-19 vaccine currently on that schedule upon enactment, and allows re‑inclusion only if the posting requirement and other laws are met.

Why people may split

Liberals emphasize public‑health disruption; conservatives emphasize transparency and parental control.

Watch point

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill plainly creates a new statutory condition and immediate substantive effect on vaccine scheduling, but it lacks detailed definitions, procedural rules, funding provisions, and accountability mechanisms that would be expected for a durable policy change of this scope.

The bill prohibits the HHS Secretary and HHS offices from placing any COVID-19 vaccine on the child and adolescent immunization schedule unless the CDC posts all clinical data HHS possesses about that vaccine’s safety and efficacy on the CDC public website.

It requires deidentification of posted data, removes any COVID-19 vaccine currently on that schedule upon enactment, and allows re‑inclusion only if the posting requirement and other laws are met.

The provision applies to the ACIP child and adolescent immunization schedule (or any successor).

Passage30/100

Narrow statutory change but politically charged; low fiscal impact helps, yet controversy and lack of compromise features reduce chances of enactment.

CredibilityMisaligned

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill plainly creates a new statutory condition and immediate substantive effect on vaccine scheduling, but it lacks detailed definitions, procedural rules, funding provisions, and accountability mechanisms that would be expected for a durable policy change of this scope.

Contention75/100

Liberals emphasize public‑health disruption; conservatives emphasize transparency and parental control.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens50% / 50%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • Potential benefitIncreases public access to HHS-held clinical data on COVID-19 vaccines before child schedule inclusion.
  • Potential benefitMay increase parental confidence by allowing independent review of vaccine safety and efficacy data.
  • Potential benefitCould improve scientific reproducibility and external analyses by making deidentified datasets publicly available.
Likely burdened
  • Potential burdenImmediate removal of existing pediatric COVID vaccines could reduce vaccination uptake and preventive coverage.
  • Potential burdenRequiring posting of 'all clinical data' may delay ACIP recommendations and slow access to vaccines.
  • Potential burdenPreparing, deidentifying, and posting datasets imposes administrative costs and staff workload on HHS.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

Liberals emphasize public‑health disruption; conservatives emphasize transparency and parental control.
Progressive20%

Likely to view the transparency goal as understandable in principle but problematic in practice.

Opposed to automatic removal of COVID vaccines from the schedule because it could reduce vaccination coverage and harm child public health.

Concerned the requirement could politicize CDC processes and delay standard public‑health protections.

Likely resistant
Centrist45%

Sees value in greater transparency of vaccine data but worries about practicality and unintended consequences.

Concerned removal from the schedule could disrupt school requirements, insurance coverage, and immunization programs.

Would look for clarifications on what constitutes “all clinical data,” timelines, and protections for proprietary or privacy interests.

Split reaction
Conservative85%

Likely to favor the bill as a strong transparency and parental‑rights measure.

Views requirement and automatic removal as corrective oversight of federal public‑health agencies.

Appreciates mandatory public posting of safety and efficacy data before children are targeted for vaccination.

Leans supportive
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood30/100

Narrow statutory change but politically charged; low fiscal impact helps, yet controversy and lack of compromise features reduce chances of enactment.

Scope and complexity
24%
Scopenarrow
24%
Complexitylow
Why this could stall
  • What constitutes 'all clinical data' and scope of third‑party proprietary material
  • Practical timeline and cost to compile and deidentify large datasets
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

Liberals emphasize public‑health disruption; conservatives emphasize transparency and parental control.

Narrow statutory change but politically charged; low fiscal impact helps, yet controversy and lack of compromise features reduce chances of…

Unlocked analysis

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill plainly creates a new statutory condition and immediate substantive effect on vaccine scheduling, but it lacks detailed definitions, procedural rules, funding provisi…

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
Open full analysis