Trump Cuts Child Vaccines, Citing Autism: 'In the Past, Fewer Children Were Diagnosed'

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce childhood vaccinations, trimming the number of recommended vaccines. The new recommendations focus on 11 key vaccines, while hepatitis B, flu, and COVID vaccines will no longer be recommended for all children. The administration is also considering splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate shots. Trump linked the rise in autism to vaccines but admitted the cause is unknown. In Israel, the broad vaccination schedule remains unchanged.

US President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on Monday regarding childhood vaccines, part of a government effort to change vaccine policy and reduce the number of recommended vaccines for children in their early years. The new recommendations focus on 11 key vaccines against diseases and viruses deemed most severe, while other vaccines are expected to no longer be universally recommended for every child. Among others, hepatitis B, flu, and COVID vaccines will no longer be recommended for all children. The administration seeks to divide the childhood vaccine schedule into three categories, and a recommendation has been raised to separate the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots, a move contrary to accepted medical opinion. The change comes after months in which Trump has questioned the scope of vaccines and raised questions about a possible link to the rise in the number of children diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Trump said: "Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today," and claimed that in the past autism rates were one in 10,000 children, and now one in 30. However, he admitted that the cause of autism is unknown. The article notes that the rise in the rate of diagnoses does not prove a causal link to vaccines, and that large-scale studies have found no evidence that the MMR vaccine causes autism. In Israel, the Ministry of Health updated the routine vaccination program in July, moving the second dose of the MMRV vaccine to 18 months, while the broad vaccination schedule remains unchanged.