Health experts Monday condemned an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump that reduces the recommended U.S. childhood vaccination schedule to 11 core immunizations, warning it will create confusion and leave more children exposed to preventable diseases.
Trump signed the order on Monday at the White House, saying it would give American children “gold-standard” protection and align the U.S. with other countries that recommend fewer shots. The order also calls for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to be split into three separate shots.
“Effective immediately, my administration is recognizing gold-standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR, which hopefully will be split up,” Trump said. He also cited rising U.S. autism diagnoses and claimed “some groups that have virtually no problem with autism” are “not big into the world of vaccines.”
ALSO READ: Global HIV deaths hit 570,000 as funding falls
The order advances a long-standing priority of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has promoted a debunked link between vaccines and autism.
Physicians and medical groups rejected the changes. Dr. Aaron Milstone of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases said the main outcome would be “confusion for parents” and likely delays in vaccination. Merck said there is no published evidence supporting splitting the MMR shot, and that using individual components would mean more injections and more missed doses.
Dr. Elizabeth Mack, a pediatric critical care physician in South Carolina, said no licensed single-antigen measles, mumps or rubella vaccines are currently available in the U.S., making the recommendation unworkable.
PhRMA Chief Medical Officer Mike Ybarra said the current schedule is based on decades of rigorous research and any changes “should be driven by the same high standard of evidence.”
The order also directs the Justice Department to challenge state vaccination laws, including those on religious and medical exemptions, escalating a federal dispute over school immunization requirements.
Even some Republican allies pushed back. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who chairs the Senate health committee, said: “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The president does not have the expertise to make these changes.”
Public health experts said the U.S. schedule reflects specific American disease risks and decades of data, not the policies of peer nations.
