President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday calling for fewer recommended childhood vaccinations and promoting separate appointments for immunizations, including splitting the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three single-disease shots.
The order limits what the administration recognizes as core childhood vaccine recommendations to 11 immunizations and directs federal health officials to develop a plan for offering individual measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, which are not currently available in the United States.
Trump said the changes would provide children with “gold-standard” protection while aligning U.S. recommendations more closely with countries that recommend fewer vaccinations.
Physicians and public health experts rejected the changes, saying the existing vaccination schedule reflects decades of research and that spacing shots across separate visits could leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases before completing their immunizations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said no new science justified changing established recommendations, while Merck said there was no published scientific evidence demonstrating a benefit from splitting the MMR vaccine.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician and chairman of the Senate health committee, also criticized the order, saying the president lacked the expertise to make such changes.
Trump again raised the possibility of a relationship between vaccines and rising autism diagnoses during the signing ceremony, despite decades of studies and scientific consensus finding no link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said federal agencies were continuing research into autism.
The executive order reaffirms vaccine schedule changes previously pursued by Kennedy's health department that were halted by a federal judge.
It also directs the Justice Department to challenge state vaccination laws that the administration says conflict with parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations or equal protection.
States retain authority to establish vaccination requirements for schoolchildren, while the administration is urging them to reconsider mandates in line with its preferred schedule.
A senior administration official said existing coverage through the government-funded Vaccines for Children program would continue.
The order comes as U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates have been declining and the country is confronting a measles outbreak, with doctors warning that conflicting federal recommendations could increase vaccine hesitancy and lead families to delay immunizations.