In brief
A new executive order issued by President Trump proposes a narrower core set of childhood vaccines and calls for splitting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot into separate visits. The president frames the change as a return to past vaccination practices, citing a presumed rise in autism linked to modern vaccines. The order does not carry legal weight for schools, as that authority rests with states. Public health experts warn that the revised schedule could lower overall vaccination coverage and increase disease risk. The move highlights continuing tensions around vaccine policy in the United States.
President Donald Trump has signed an order that calls for fewer childhood vaccines and also recommends splitting the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) shots.
"Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today," Trump said on Monday. "In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist."
The Trump administration has long pushed a discredited link between MMR vaccines and autism, but multiple studies have found no link between the two.
The federal government does not have the authority to implement the new recommendations. Shots that are required for school attendance are set at the state level.
"We’re reducing them," Trump said. "It’s not only that you’re doing fewer vaccines, or jabs, but you’re doing them in a series of visits to the doctor."
The immunisations recommended for all children under the order are for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella or chicken pox.
The order will still require the standard core set of 11 core vaccinations against the most serious diseases, but it calls for spacing these out into separate visits rather than a bundled schedule.
For a visual reference of the rollout event, see the accompanying image.
