Trump orders review of childhood vaccine schedule

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review childhood vaccine schedules and consider splitting the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots.

The order, announced Monday, calls for fewer required vaccines and frames the move as a return to “simpler times” when children received fewer shots. “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” Trump said in a statement. “In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist.” The administration has long promoted the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.

Federal health agencies now face a 60-day deadline to assess how to reduce the number of childhood vaccines and to evaluate the safety and feasibility of splitting the MMR vaccine into three individual injections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at 12–15 months and the second at 4–6 years. Public health experts warn that delaying or fragmenting the vaccine could leave children unprotected during outbreaks.

The move follows years of anti-vaccine rhetoric from the White House and aligns with long-standing claims by vaccine opponents that the combined MMR shot causes autism. Multiple large studies involving millions of children have found no such link. Public health officials say the order could undermine decades of progress in preventing deadly diseases and may confuse parents. Pediatricians and disease experts say the current vaccine schedule is based on rigorous science and is designed to maximize protection while minimizing doses and visits. Splitting the MMR vaccine could reduce its effectiveness and increase the risk of outbreaks.