Trump expected to sign executive order reducing recommended vaccines for children

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at changing how the federal government handles childhood vaccinations.

The document proposes reducing the number of immunizations recommended during the early years of life, as well as classifying the national vaccination schedule into three categories.

One of the proposed changes concerns the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which would be divided into three separate doses. This position runs counter to the broad scientific consensus, but aligns with Trump’s repeated calls in recent months to change this widely used vaccine.

“I think the MMR vaccine should be taken separately. This is based on how I feel,” Trump said last autumn.

Under the draft order, every child would be recommended to receive vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and varicella, also known as chickenpox.

Monoclonal antibodies and vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY and dengue fever would be recommended only for children belonging to high-risk groups. This would represent a change from the current schedule, which advises that most of these vaccines be given to all children.

For some vaccines, including those against hepatitis, the decision would be made jointly by the family and the child’s doctor. This group would also include vaccines against rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza and Covid-19.

The initiative announced by Trump resembles an effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in January to reduce the number of vaccines included in the childhood schedule. Medical organizations challenged that plan in court, and a judge ruled in their favor.

In recent months, Trump has asked HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take further measures concerning the childhood vaccination schedule and intensify efforts to investigate claims of a possible link between vaccines and autism.

Numerous scientific studies on vaccines have found no evidence linking them to autism.

The executive order is expected to be signed on Monday afternoon, despite long-standing concerns expressed by Trump’s political advisers. According to them, advancing controversial vaccine policies is broadly unpopular and could drive voters away ahead of the midterm elections in November.