The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a stand-alone immunization schedule that for the first time in three decades diverges substantially from federal guidance, recommending COVID-19 vaccination for all children aged six to 23 months and for older youngsters with underlying conditions. The group said the move was necessary to “make the right choices for children,” noting that infants and toddlers face a higher risk of severe disease. The recommendation puts the academy at odds with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose June overhaul of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices led the agency to drop routine COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women. An HHS spokesman accused the academy of allowing pharmaceutical donors to sway its advice, while Kennedy said the group was angry that “corporate influence” had been removed from federal vaccine decisions. Pediatric leaders pointed to fresh evidence from the University of Minnesota’s Vaccine Integrity Project, which reviewed more than 500 recent studies and found no new safety signals and sustained effectiveness for COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines in children. AAP officials said those data underpinned their guidance and urged insurers to cover the shots. The split widens an already visible rift between leading medical societies and the Trump administration’s health agencies, which this month also cancelled more than $300 million in chronic-disease prevention grants and ended nearly $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts.