Trump signs executive order to reduce childhood vaccines, pediatrics call it 'dangerous'
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, August 10, backing fewer routine vaccines for children by limiting the inoculation schedule to 11 immunizations, which he said would give US children "gold-standard" protection.
“This updated recommendation finally aligns the United States with other advanced and developed nations around the world,” the president said as he addressed the press at the Oval Office. “More importantly, it aligns us with common sense and knowledge.”
The order builds on the Trump administration’s push to change the childhood vaccine schedule under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has long questioned the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
Trump falsely ties vaccine to autism
The order, called the “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations,” puts vaccines into three groups: shots recommended for all children, those advised for children at higher risk of infection, and those that should be given after parents consult a doctor.
The order also calls for reducing the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11, compared with the current schedule backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
He also called for splitting the combination measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine into three separate single-disease shots.
Trump suggested that the MMR vaccine could be "quite lethal" if given at once as he compared it to pouring a bottle of soda into a child's body.
“The MMR we want to have separate visits, separate times. The vaccine being broken into three separate single doses and vaccines being administered in separate visits,” Trump said.
He also falsely linked vaccines to autism, repeatedly suggesting that the rise in childhood vaccinations has contributed to more autism diagnoses. However, decades of scientific research have found no link between vaccines and autism.
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.
Doctors call Trump vaccine order ‘dangerous’
While Trump claims his new vaccine recommendation will provide children "gold-standard" protection, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics called it dangerous.
“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,” Dr Andrew Racine said in a release.
“Instead of ensuring every family can access life-saving vaccines for measles, influenza, RSV and more, federal leaders are once again spreading misleading claims,” he added.
Racine also pushed back against Trump’s debunked autism claims, noting there is no scientifically proven link between childhood vaccines and autism.
“There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance,” he said. “Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families.”
“On-time immunization keeps our kids and our communities healthy and thriving. If parents have questions about vaccines, I encourage them to talk with their child’s pediatrician or clinician,” he added.
