Denmark recommends routinely vaccinating all children against just 10 diseases.

In the U.S., the immunization schedule calls for routine universal vaccination against 16 diseases.
-- It was 17 diseases until last week, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially dropped the recommendation to vaccinate all newborns against hepatitis B.

But Denmark has created its immunization schedule in a very different context than that of the U.S.,
notes Dr. Sean O'Leary, chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

For starters, Denmark's population is about 6 million people – roughly that of Wisconsin – compared to more than 343 million people in the U.S.

Denmark also lacks the racial and ethnic diversity and wide income disparities that are prevalent in the U.S.

Denmark also has a highly unified health system, with a national health registry that basically tracks everyone from birth to death, Michaud says.

"And so if there are outbreaks or if there are cases of these diseases, they can easily identify them," Michaud says.

"They can treat them, get them into care, and also track down contacts, if that's needed for the particular disease we're talking about."
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