President Donald Trump has signed an order seeking to overhaul decades of federal guidance on childhood vaccines and urge states to rethink school vaccine mandates.The order divides childhood vaccines into three categories, directs federal agencies to advance the new recommendations and urges states to rethink school vaccine mandates.The order, dubbed the ‘Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations,’ also pursues a long-standing priority of the president's: breaking up the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots due to concerns about a now-debunked link to autism. It calls for all childhood immunizations to be administered at separate medical visits ‘to the maximum extent feasible.’Medical experts have long assured that the single MMR shot is proven safe and effective and that splitting it up could leave children vulnerable to dangerous diseases for longer.The order explicitly acknowledges that the administration's earlier vaccine directives have been ‘delayed due to litigation’ and instructs federal agencies to advance the new recommendations ‘to the fullest extent allowable by law.’The order, however, is largely symbolic. States hold the power over school vaccine mandates, not the federal government. Even changes to the federal vaccine schedule would require formal rulemaking through the CDC and its advisory committee.The order comes as measles cases are surging. The CDC has recorded 2,465 cases across 47 states so far in 2026 – already surpassing last year – with 93 percent in unvaccinated people. Childhood vaccination rates have dropped to 92.5 percent, leaving nearly 300,000 children vulnerable. President Trump signed an executive order to revamp federal childhood vaccine guidance and encourage states to reconsider school vaccine requirements