Trump official Dr Oz differs with his boss on screen, pushes back on president’s MMR remark

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump’s cabinet member, Medicaid and Medicare administrator, differed with his Boss’s answer when pressed about the MMR vaccine, contradicting the remark.

President Trump, earlier this month, claimed that the combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine could be "quite lethal" when given all at once.

Margaret Brennan plays President clip to press Dr Oz

Trump administration’s Medicaid and Medicare administrator, Dr Mehmet Oz on Sunday, August 23 contradicted with what Trump’s “quite lethal” remark about combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, saying it is not lethal vaccine. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 10, 2026 to split the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate doses.

Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan confronted Oz with the contradictory claims.

“The CDC released new numbers last week showing 92% of the nation’s kindergartners were vaccinated for measles in the last school year, but that’s below the 95% herd immunity threshold,” Brennan said.

Brennan played a clip where President Trump is heard saying that three separate vaccines together could possibly be “quite lethal.”

And when these three vaccines are given separately, “it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective.”

Dr Mehmet Oz says MMR vaccine is not lethal

“The president twice said the shot may be lethal. Do you want to clarify that?” she asked Dr Oz.

“We want patients to get the treatments that their doctors are recommending to them, but we also want parents to have the autonomy to decide what their kids receive,” Dr Oz answered.

Brennan further pressed Dr Oz on MMR vaccines “specifically.”

First, Oz tried to divert the discussion towards his job and President Trump’s efforts to get children “vaccinated as their doctors recommend.”

Moments later, when Brennan again forced Dr Oz to come back to the topic, saying, the manufacturer of MMR can't give the vaccine in one shot for another 10 years. “Currently, it is only offered as a single shot. The president called that single shot lethal. Do you want to clarify that?”

To which Oz replied, “No, the MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine, and it is offered in other countries. The measles, in particular, separately, like in Japan.”

Trump’s move to split the MMR vaccine schedule and doses triggered strong rebukes from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the World Health Organization (WHO), as experts cautioned that dividing the MMR vaccine would be needless, expensive, and hazardous to children’s health.

“As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the US, and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, today’s executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous,” said AAP president Andrew Racine in a statement labelling the changes as unscientific