Canadian doctors are warning that a new U.S. policy which slashes the number of vaccines universally recommended to all children could have devastating, and potentially deadly effects in Canada, including increasing disease spread through American travellers visiting north of the border.

“This was just incomprehensibly stupid. I was horrified,” said family doctor and former president of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Sohail Gandhi in an interview with CTV News Saturday. “Children in the U.S. are going to die as a result of this move – and, worse, some children are going to have lifelong complications as a result of this move.”

On Monday, the U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) announced it will slash routine vaccine recommendations for all children from 17 down to 11, no longer suggesting protection against diseases like COVID-19, hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, influenza, rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and meningococcal disease.

CTV News spoke to several health professionals who say this will have a compounding effect, with vaccine hesitancy on the rise in Canada and immunization numbers dwindling.