We are living in truly unprecedented times. On August 10, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at reshaping the nation's childhood immunization schedule, including directing HHS to pursue separate measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines and to administer childhood immunizations at separate appointments whenever possible. The order also directs HHS to conduct further research on vaccines, despite decades of high-quality evidence demonstrating that vaccines are safe and effective.
Let's be clear about what is driving this policy. Throughout the second Trump administration, the president has repeatedly suggested a link between childhood vaccines and autism. The science, however, is unambiguous: decades of research involving millions of children have found no credible association between the MMR vaccine, or childhood vaccines more broadly, and autism.
The disinformation coming from the Trump administration amounts to a dangerous experiment on our children. Americans deserve better than political ideology masquerading as medical science. They deserve to know that Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are sowing doubt about vaccines despite the overwhelming evidence supporting their safety and effectiveness.
