On Monday, Donald Trump signed an executive order pushing for revisions to how children in the US are vaccinated.
The executive order calls for several changes. These include fewer vaccinations overall and a recommendation that the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine be replaced with separate shots for each disease administered during separate medical visits. The latter direction is currently impossible to implement because no stand-alone shots for these diseases are licensed in the US.
“I think the biggest impact of this executive order is that it’s going to cause more confusion,” says Dr David Diemert, a professor of medicine and director of the George Washington University Vaccine Research Unit. “And confusion for things like vaccination schedules for kids is never a good thing.”
Critically, the executive order does not actually “change anything about current recommendations”, says Dr James Campbell, chair of the committee on infectious diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). While the executive order puts pressure on states to change their vaccine policies, it is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rather than the president that sets federal recommendations.
“Parents should absolutely proceed with getting their child’s vaccines as currently recommended, and explore any questions with their pediatrician,” says Dr Sallie Permar, chair of pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine.
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