More Trump Administration Childhood Vaccine Nonsense
WASHINGTON, D.C – An executive order signed today further disrupts the childhood vaccine schedule by decreasing the number of immunizations recommended for all children and calling for the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be split into three separate single disease shots that should be administered at separate medical visits.. Earlier efforts by the Trump administration to undermine childhood immunization policies have been stalled by ongoing litigation and objections from states, health insurers, and medical professional societies.
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group Director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“The Trump administration is continuing a mindless anti-scientific assault on the childhood vaccine schedule and falsely tying vaccines to autism. There is no medical reason for the MMR vaccine to be split into three separate single disease shots that would be administered at separate office visits, changes that would only decrease vaccine coverage and increase health care costs. Under the draft executive order, mandatory vaccine requirements for children to attend school would be also put at further risk. These and other directives are the exact opposite of ‘Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations’ during the worst year for measles cases in decades.
“Senate confirmation of Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should have restored sanity to the federal government’s vaccine policies. Regrettably, within days of Schwartz’s confirmation, the Trump administration has offered only more irrational nonsense.”