Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing federal health agencies to revise childhood vaccination recommendations in a move that promotes his long-standing view that routine shots should be spread across more medical visits.
The order specifically calls for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be administered as three separate injections given at different appointments. Trump also suggested during an Oval Office event that one-year-olds should receive their vaccines across five separate visits, though it was unclear whether he meant all routine immunizations or only certain ones.
Public health experts warn of risks
Pediatricians and infectious disease specialists have long cautioned that delaying or spacing out vaccines creates windows of vulnerability. Children who wait longer between doses face a higher chance of contracting a vaccine-preventable disease before they return for the next shot. The current combined MMR vaccine has undergone extensive safety testing and decades of post-market surveillance. Separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are not currently manufactured for the United States market.
The order acknowledges that school vaccination requirements remain under state authority. It urges states with mandates to consider updating their laws to align with the administration's new guidance. A similar effort last December, when Trump ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to review international vaccine schedules, resulted in a reduction of recommended childhood vaccines that was later blocked by a federal court.
Autism claims persist despite scientific consensus
The announcement follows months of pressure from Trump on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to produce research linking vaccines to autism. In a cabinet meeting last month, Trump publicly asked Kennedy for an update. Kennedy replied that an answer would be forthcoming. Decades of epidemiological studies across multiple countries have found no causal relationship between childhood vaccines and autism.
The order arrives as the United States confronts a growing measles outbreak. Case counts have approached 1,000 just weeks into 2026, with children accounting for the majority of infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned the country risks losing its measles elimination status, a designation earned in 2000 after a year without continuous disease transmission.
In Canada, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization sets evidence-based vaccine schedules that are adopted by provinces and territories. The Public Health Agency of Canada has also reported measles cases linked to international travel and undervaccinated communities. Canadian clinicians echo their American counterparts in warning that alternative schedules lacking scientific support undermine herd immunity and increase outbreak risk.
Based on reporting by Global News.