Trump signed an order on Monday asking for new rules about vaccines for kids. This shows that he believes some doses should be given at different doctor visits.
The order tells the health department of the United States to replace the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine with three separate doses given at different times. This is to improve research into vaccinations.
The order asks for updated vaccine guidelines, but it is ultimately up to the states to decide if students need to be vaccinated before they can go to school.
Public health experts are worried that children will be more likely to get a disease that can be prevented by vaccines if they are given them at random times, as Trump wants to do.
Michael Osterholm, who is in charge of the Vaccine Integrity Project, said that parents should still listen to well-known medical and public health groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics when they decide which vaccines to give their kids. Osterholm said, “The scientific evidence supporting immunization of children remains unchanged.” He also said that today’s executive order does not change this. The information comes from many years of large-scale clinical trials, studies of how well the medicine works in the real world, and ongoing safety tracking with millions of children. He said that parents should get clear, evidence-based advice on how to keep their children safe instead of different advice that comes from politics. In the end, kids are the ones who suffer when parents get mixed messages about child shots.
As part of his order to ban vaccines, Trump said that “bad things happen” when kids get the combined MMR vaccine. “I’ve seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body, and bad things happen in many cases — in too many cases,” he said.
But doctors have told the public that the vaccine is completely safe and effective, and that there is almost no chance that it will have any big side effects. Common side effects include pain or swelling at the injection site, fever, and short-term pain or stiffness in the joints.
Trump has said that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine might cause autism, but decades of study have shown that there isn’t a link between the two.
In addition to genes, scientists have found a number of other things that may put a child at risk for autism. These include the mother’s weight, diabetes, chemical exposure, or the father’s age.
Scientists and well-known autism advocacy groups have long shown that the claim that vaccines cause autism is not true.
There are in-depth studies on childhood vaccines, including when and how to give them together. For many years after the amounts are given, they are still being checked for safety.
