By JKNewsMedia
A NEW executive order signed by United States (US) President Donald Trump calls for fewer childhood vaccines and recommends separating the combined mumps, measles and rubella vaccine into individual shots.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the order recommends reducing the number of childhood vaccines to 11 from the existing 18 recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It also serves as guidance rather than a mandate, as states, not the federal government, determine vaccines required for school attendance.
The immunisations recommended for all children under the order cover measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus and varicella, or chicken pox.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” Trump said. “In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist.”
Trump has long cast doubt on the safety of MMR vaccines, although multiple studies have found no connection between the shots and autism.
“We’re reducing them,” Trump said. “It’s not only that you’re doing fewer vaccines, or jabs, as they say, but you’re doing them in a series of visits to the doctor.”
The president suggested that the MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal” if administered at once and compared it to pouring a bottle of soda into a child’s body.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that a single dose of MMR is 0.5ml.
Asked by a reporter for evidence supporting his “lethal” claim, Trump said: “What I’ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) says the MMR vaccine carries a very small risk of febrile seizures among young children. It advises those with health issues, including severe allergic reactions or weakened immune systems, to consult healthcare providers before taking the shots.
The agency says “most people who get MMR vaccine do not have any serious problems with it” and that receiving the vaccine “is much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella”.
The CDC also says there is “no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots”.
Medical experts have criticised the order, saying it could reduce vaccination rates and expose children to harmful diseases. Experts also say spacing out vaccines could leave children more likely to contract diseases in the interim or miss appointments because of the increased number of visits.
Dr William Schaffner of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) in Nashville told the BBC that additional visits would be harder for parents and providers to track and would increase costs without any scientific benefit.
Since taking office in 2025, Secretary of Health and Human Services (SHHS) Robert F Kennedy Jr has sought to change and loosen vaccine regulations.
During a tense 20-minute interview on Cable News Network (CNN) last week, Kennedy insisted he had “never questioned the efficacy of the MMR vaccine”.
He said the proposed changes aimed to give parents choice rather than prohibit access to childhood vaccines.
Trump administration officials have said the order means children in the US would receive much less than the 72 shots recommended under the previous vaccine schedule, a figure that assumes annual flu and Covid-19 doses.
Dr Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), described Trump’s executive order as “dangerous” and said it was not based on “gold-standard science”.
“Delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school,” Racine said.
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