President Donald Trump has signed an order that calls for fewer childhood vaccines and recommends changing how the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine is delivered, including splitting MMR doses. Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said that children received only a “small fraction” of the vaccines required today and argued that earlier generations were “much healthier”. He also claimed that autism rates now seen were not present in past decades, repeating a line his administration has promoted for years. The Trump administration has long backed a link between MMR vaccines and autism that has been widely discredited. However, multiple studies have found no association between the two. Federal authority limited to state requirementsThe federal government does not have the power to put the new recommendations into effect. Requirements for vaccinations needed for school attendance are set by individual states. Even so, Trump said the administration is “recognising gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations” covering only 11 core vaccinations aimed at protecting against the most serious and dangerous diseases. What the order recommendsUnder the order, the immunisations recommended for all children include vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, as well as diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. It also covers polio and Haemophilus influenzae type B, alongside pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus and varicella, or chickenpox. The order also includes a recommendation to split the MMR shots, rather than giving them as a combined dose, according to the description of the order. Trump says children would receive fewer jabsTrump said the approach would reduce the number of vaccinations. He added that the change would involve receiving vaccines across a series of doctor visits. “We’re reducing them,” he said, describing the plan as not only involving fewer vaccines, but also spreading them out into multiple appointments. Join the discussion? 11 August 2026
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