Doctors and lawmakers condemn Trump order calling for sweeping changes to childhood vaccines

Medical experts and lawmakers are blasting Donald Trump’s executive order calling for sweeping changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.

The order calls for fewer childhood vaccines and would require that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine be broken into three separate shots. It would also recommend that all shots be given at separate medical visits, promoting the president’s long-held but baseless theory that the shots should be spaced out.

Jan Carney, president of the American College of Physicians, called the changes “problematic and deeply concerning.”

“This executive order is part of a troubling pattern by the administration to attempt to unilaterally change vaccine guidance, particularly for children, rather than relying on the transparent, scientific review that has guided the US childhood vaccine schedule for decades,” Carney said in a statement. “If implemented, the changes could increase costs to patients and families, including additional copays while also placing a greater burden on families needing to schedule multiple appointments for a multiple-dose MMR vaccine.”

Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said current vaccine recommendations are “based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences.”

“Pediatricians recommend children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children’s immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases,” Racine said. “Sometimes this means children will receive a single shot that protects against multiple diseases, or they may receive multiple vaccines at one visit.”

Democratic representative Frank Pallone, meanwhile, said in a statement that Trump’s executive order cuts out “the expertise of independent scientists altogether.”

“Parents deserve accurate, trusted medical guidance, not a White House-curated list designed to rubberstamp Secretary Kennedy’s radical anti-vaccine agenda,” Pallone said. “I urge the Administration to reverse course before this executive order doubles down on the damage done to public trust and the health of our nation’s children.”

Democratic senator Patty Murray urged parents to “listen to your doctor NOT Trump or RFK Jr.”

“IGNORE Trump’s Executive Order,” Murray said. “There is NO link between vaccines and autism. In the middle of actual public health crises America deserves leaders informed by actual science. FIRE RFK Jr.”