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Top Trump Health Official Praises ‘Admirable’ Measles Vaccine While Defending President’s Sweeping Overhaul
Yahoo • • health
Key Points:
- NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya described vaccinating children against measles as "admirable" while defending President Trump's executive order reducing federally recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11 diseases.
- The order also proposes replacing the combined MMR vaccine with three separate shots and encourages states to reconsider school vaccination mandates, sparking concern among medical experts about potential increased vulnerability to disease.
- Trump faced criticism after suggesting the combined MMR vaccine "could" be "quite lethal" without evidence, contradicting established scientific consensus on the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.
- Bhattacharya stated that the executive order aims to build trust between parents and the government by treating them as partners in vaccination decisions rather than imposing mandates.
- The CDC reported 2,465 confirmed measles cases and 38 outbreaks in 2026 as of August 7, already exceeding the record 2,289 cases in 2025, highlighting ongoing public health challenges.
