President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that revises federal recommendations for the childhood vaccination schedule, according to multiple media reports including the AP.

Specifically, the executive order recommends all children receive vaccination for 11 diseases, with 6 others recommended for certain high-risk groups, and 6 more based on shared clinical decision-making. In addition, it calls for separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different shots administered in three separate appointments.

  • (i) immunizations recommended for all children:  measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella;
  • (ii) immunizations recommended for certain high-risk groups or populations:  RSV monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY, and dengue; and
  • (iii) immunizations based on shared clinical decision-making:  hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza, and COVID-19.
  • (b)  The Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations also recognize that the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits.

A fact sheet released with the executive order calls on US states to consider updating their school vaccination laws to reflect the this new schedule, which it called “gold standard vaccine recommendations.”

According to the AP, Trump “repeatedly suggested the number or timing of vaccines could play a role in rising rates of autism spectrum disorder, even as scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link.”

“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 will hopefully be split up. … We want it in three separate vaccinations given at separate times. Together there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal, and separately it looks like they are not at all lethal.”
“I’ve seen proof of where they have a vaccination thing that looks like the size of a bottle of soda and pour it into a little child’s body. And bad things happen in many cases, too many cases. At one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day.“
-President Trump

Child health advocates pushed back against the recommendations and encouraged parents to continue trusting evidence-based medical advice.

“Today’s Executive Order does not change the underlying scientific evidence supporting childhood immunization. That data has been built over decades – through large clinical trials, real-world effectiveness studies and continuous safety monitoring involving millions of children.”
“We encourage parents to discuss questions about vaccination with their pediatrician or other trusted healthcare provider and to continue following the evidence-based recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading medical societies.”
-Dr. Michael Osterholm, Executive Director, Vaccine Integrity Project in a statement posted on X.

Experts also wondered if it was even possible to split up the MMR vaccine, as separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children are not currently available in the United States, according to the AP.

“Merck stopped producing the individual MMR vaccines in 2009. There is no currently licensed version in this country, no company has said they are building one, and the order only takes effect once those products exist,” Celine R. Gounder, MD, a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, told CBS News.

The proposed changes come at a time when the United States has documented the most cases of measles since 1991.