Trump moves to reduce childhood vaccines, doctors raise strong objections

US President Donald Trump has initiated major changes to the routine childhood vaccination programme. A new executive order seeks to reduce the number of recommended vaccines for children and suggests administering the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine separately rather than as a combined shot. However, the Trump administration's decision has been criticised by US doctors and vaccine experts as dangerous and scientifically baseless.

At the Oval Office on Monday, Trump claimed that children were given fewer vaccines decades ago and that people were healthier then. In the same speech, he also raised the issue of rising autism rates among children. Trump has long questioned the safety of the MMR vaccine, though multiple scientific studies have found no evidence linking the vaccine to autism.

The new order proposes 11 vaccines for children instead of the 18 recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. These include vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus and chickenpox. Trump said that in addition to giving children fewer vaccines, the administration is also considering administering them separately rather than in combination.

Experts have opposed this approach, stating there is no major safety risk in administering multiple vaccines at the same time. Rather, spacing out vaccines could leave children vulnerable to infectious diseases during the interval, and the need for repeated visits to doctors may increase the risk of missing the recommended schedule. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said there is no scientific evidence that splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate shots provides any additional benefit.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, however, said the goal is not to ban vaccines but to give parents more choice. But American Academy of Pediatrics President Dr Andrew Racine called the decision "disappointing" and "dangerous". He said that with measles transmission at its highest in 35 years, delaying or restricting childhood vaccination could make the situation even more risky.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy also criticised Trump's decision, calling the move "wrong". He said vaccines are widely safe and effective, and there is no link between vaccines and autism. Experts also reminded that the decision on which vaccines are mandatory for school attendance is primarily the jurisdiction of individual states, limiting the scope for a nationwide change through a presidential executive order alone.