Trump Orders Major Overhaul Of Childhood Vaccine Recommendations

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the federal government to overhaul childhood vaccine recommendations, delivering a major policy victory to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement.

The order, dubbed “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations,” calls for reducing the number of diseases for which vaccines are routinely recommended for all children, spacing out childhood immunizations, and eventually administering the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as three separate shots.

Under the order, vaccines for 11 diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, polio and whooping cough, would be recommended for all children, down from 18 under the current schedule. Vaccines for several other diseases, including hepatitis A and B and meningococcal disease, would instead be recommended for certain higher-risk groups or through shared decision-making between parents and doctors. Influenza and COVID-19 vaccines would also fall into the shared decision-making category.

The order also directs federal agencies to work toward making separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines available in the United States. “To the maximum extent feasible,” it calls for childhood immunizations to be administered at separate medical visits.

Trump defended the changes during an Oval Office signing ceremony, saying they would reduce the number of vaccines administered during individual visits and arguing that parents should have greater control over when their children receive shots.

“It’s inconvenient, it’s five stops, but it’s something that I think will have a huge impact on autism,” Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that childhood vaccines could be connected to rising autism diagnoses. Numerous large studies have found no association between the MMR vaccines and autism. The president also acknowledged Monday that he did not have scientific evidence for a claim he made that the current MMR vaccine could be “lethal.”

“What I’ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way, and I say, ‘Well, let’s say there’s a 5 percent chance of it; let’s split it up,’” Trump said.

Secretary Kennedy, who has promoted vaccine skepticism for years and made reshaping federal vaccine policy a central part of his tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services, stood alongside Trump during the announcement.

The order directs HHS to develop proposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule within 90 days. It also calls for additional research into vaccine safety, alternative vaccine ingredients and the timing and sequencing of childhood immunizations.

The practical effect of the order remains uncertain. States generally determine which vaccines children must receive to attend public schools, rather than the federal government, and individual measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines are not currently available in the United States. Manufacturers would have to develop and obtain approval for each product separately.

The order acknowledges that similar previous directives have been delayed by litigation and instructs federal agencies to advance the new recommendations “to the fullest extent allowable by law.” It also directs the Justice Department to pursue what it calls “meritorious” legal challenges involving state vaccine requirements and exemptions, including those based on parental authority and religious and medical grounds. 

Medical organizations and some Republicans have criticized the order.

“I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health Committee, wrote on X. “The President does not have the expertise to make these changes.”

“Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism,” Cassidy added, arguing that separating vaccines could require children to receive more shots to obtain the same protection.

The administration has portrayed the changes as part of a broader effort to give parents more control over medical decisions and to reconsider longstanding federal recommendations.