Donald Trump just signed an executive order that has doctors and even his own party pushing back hard. The President’s latest move on childhood vaccines challenges decades of medical consensus and sparks fierce opposition from health experts and Republican lawmakers alike.
Donald Trump’s administration is changing childhood recommendations despite opposition from medical groups
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that calls for fewer childhood vaccines, going against advice from major medical groups, Euronews reports. The order recommends giving all childhood vaccinations at separate visits whenever feasible. It also directs the health department to divide the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three distinct single injections.
Trump repeatedly implied during the signing that the timing or quantity of vaccinations could contribute to rising autism rates. He called the announcement a “major victory for parents’ rights, religious and constitutional rights, and for the gold standard science.” Decades of research and scientific consensus, however, clearly conclude no connection exists between vaccines and autism.
Public health experts warn that spacing out shots increases the risk of children contracting preventable diseases. Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, disputed the recommendations firmly. He said the announcement spreads “uncertainty, fear, and confusion” where “there doesn’t need to be any of that.”
Racine further defended existing vaccine guidelines in strong terms. “Science about vaccines and their efficacy has not changed,” he said. “Children in this country have not changed in the last 48 hours.” Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate health committee, also opposed the order publicly.
“I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong,” the Louisiana senator wrote on social media. He added that vaccines are safe and do not cause autism. States, not the federal government, hold the power to mandate vaccines for children in the country.
The order still urges states with school vaccination mandates to consider revising their legislation. Trump has also pressured Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to identify the cause of autism through new research.
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Mandatory.com.
