President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines and recommending that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot be administered as separate doses.
"Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today," Trump said on Monday. "In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist."
The order recommends reducing the number of childhood vaccines from the 18 currently recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics to 11.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said his administration "is recognising gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases."
The immunisations recommended for all children under the order are for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella, or chickenpox.
"We're reducing them," Trump said. "It's not only that you're doing fewer vaccines, or jabs, as they say, but you're doing them in a series of visits to the doctor."
Trump has long cast doubt on the safety of MMR vaccines. He suggested the combined shot could be "quite lethal" if given at once, comparing it to pouring a bottle of soda into a child's body.
Multiple studies have found no connection between MMR vaccines and autism.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states there is "no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots." The agency adds that "most people who get MMR vaccine do not have any serious problems with it," and that getting the vaccine "is much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella."
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the proposed changes were intended to give parents choice, not to restrict access to childhood vaccines.
The federal government does not have the authority to implement the new recommendations directly. Vaccine requirements for school attendance are set at the state level.
