President Donald Trump signed an executive order that slashes six diseases from the U.S. childhood immunisation schedule and mandates that the combined measles‑mumps‑rubella (MMR) shot be broken into three single‑antigen injections, shrinking the recommended core list from 17 to 11 vaccines.
The order, issued Monday, drops RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal ACWY, rotavirus and influenza and directs the Health and Human Services department to fund research on separate MMR components, which are not yet licensed in the United States. It also urges states to review school‑entry vaccine requirements, though such mandates remain under state control. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long‑time vaccine critic, backs the changes.
Public‑health authorities warn that spacing shots across more visits could leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases longer and increase the risk of missed doses, while the American Academy of Pediatrics and vaccine makers such as Merck stress there is no scientific benefit to splitting MMR. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician, called the order “wrong” and warned it would reduce protection for infants.
The administration cites a disputed link between vaccine timing and autism and claims U.S. children receive 72 shots under the current schedule, a figure contested by experts who note it includes prenatal vaccines and component counts. Legal challenges that blocked earlier attempts by Kennedy to remove six vaccines remain unresolved.