US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday calling for fewer childhood vaccinations by limiting the inoculation schedule to 11 immunizations, which he said would give US children “gold-standard” protection and align the country with peer nations that recommend fewer shots.
The order advances a long-standing goal of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who has promoted a link between vaccines and autism that scientists have repeatedly debunked.
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“Effective immediately, my administration is recognizing gold-standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR, which hopefully will be split up,” Trump said during a White House signing ceremony where he repeatedly cited a growing number of US autism diagnoses.
“There are some groups that have virtually no problem with autism,” Trump said. “They’re groups that aren’t big into the world of vaccines, so there is something wrong.”
