Trump signs executive order on vaccine schedule

Key Points:

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for revised childhood vaccine recommendations that promote spacing out vaccines, including separating the MMR vaccine into three separate shots, despite such options not currently being available in the U.S.
• The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to improve vaccine research and suggests states consider updating school vaccine mandates to align with the administration’s recommendations, although states retain authority over vaccination requirements.
• Public health experts warn that spacing out vaccines as suggested could increase the risk of children contracting preventable diseases before completing their immunizations, noting that current vaccine schedules are based on extensive safety studies.
• Trump has continued to focus on a disproven link between vaccines and autism, pressuring Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for updates on autism research, despite scientific consensus rejecting any connection between vaccines and autism.
• The administration’s previous attempt to reduce the number of recommended vaccines was blocked in court, and public opinion still largely supports school vaccine requirements, though there is partisan variation in support.