“Those are things that we want to make sure we study and really engage in before we make those determinations.
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Trump Signs an Executive Order Cutting the Childhood Vaccine Schedule and Splitting the MMR Shot Into Three, and the Republican Chairman of the Senate Health Committee Calls It "a Stupid Thing to Do"
August 16, 2026
On August 10, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans," standing alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The order directs the federal government to cut the list of diseases against which all children are universally recommended to be vaccinated — reporting put the change at 17 or 18 shots down to 11 — and states that the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine "should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available," with childhood immunizations given at separate medical visits "to the maximum extent feasible." It also directs federal agencies to support litigation involving parental authority and religious exemptions to school-entry requirements. Trump repeatedly tied the changes to autism, a link that decades of research have not found. The sharpest congressional criticism came from a Republican: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, posted on X the day the order was signed that "this executive order is wrong" and that "the President does not have the expertise to make these changes." Cassidy escalated on a Sunday show six days later, arguing the split MMR would turn two shots into six, six copays and six missed work days, and calling the policy "just a stupid thing to do" and "potentially tragic." Congressional Democrats — including the caucus's physician members — attacked the order as politics overriding science, with House Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) saying it "lets political appointees attempt to overrule decades of peer-reviewed science." Medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, said no new evidence justified the change and warned about timing: U.S. measles cases are at a 35-year high. States pushed back too. School vaccine requirements are set at the state level and are unaffected by the order; Pennsylvania said its guidelines would not change, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker dismissed the order as "a thoughtless piece of paper," and the Governors Public Health Alliance said the order "circumvents that process and defies scientific consensus."
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21 Statements
“The reason why we have seen a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country is because of rampant illegal immigration.
“Spreading out that vaccination schedule, I think, does make sense — [it gives] an infant human body the ability to actually absorb and deal with that rate of vaccination.
“No, the MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine, and it is offered in other countries, the measles, in particular, separately, like in Japan.
“At a moment when the United States is experiencing the highest surge in measles cases in thirty-five years, your administration is placing more children in harm's way rather than protecting them. The health and safety of America's children must not be sacrificed for political theater and ideology. Every day this Executive Order remains in effect, more children go without the vaccines that would protect them, additional outbreaks become more likely, and lives are put at risk.
“At a moment when the United States is experiencing the highest surge in measles cases in thirty-five years, your administration is placing more children in harm's way rather than protecting them. The health and safety of America's children must not be sacrificed for political theater and ideology. Every day this Executive Order remains in effect, more children go without the vaccines that would protect them, additional outbreaks become more likely, and lives are put at risk.
“At a moment when the United States is experiencing the highest surge in measles cases in thirty-five years, your administration is placing more children in harm's way rather than protecting them. The health and safety of America's children must not be sacrificed for political theater and ideology. Every day this Executive Order remains in effect, more children go without the vaccines that would protect them, additional outbreaks become more likely, and lives are put at risk.
“Let's just take it from the perspective of the parent why this is a — why this is just a stupid thing to do. Now, instead of your child getting two shots, she has to get six shots.
“a thoughtless piece of paper
“Politicians need to stay out of medical decision-making. Full stop. This Administration is putting lives at risk & spreading misinformation.
“We have already seen the consequences of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine rhetoric. Vaccination rates are falling. Measles cases are surging.
“And of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So, there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. And we’re going to bring it back to much closer to where it was.
“It finally aligns the United States with other advanced and developed nations around the world. More importantly, it aligns us with common sense and knowledge.
“Today, we're proud to officially announce the United States of America's gold standard childhood vaccination recommendations. And that has to do with many subjects, but including autism in particular.
“I'm a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make these changes. Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism. Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection.
“PARENTS: listen to your doctor NOT Trump or RFK Jr. IGNORE Trump's Executive Order. There is NO link between vaccines and autism.
“This executive order lets political appointees attempt to overrule decades of peer-reviewed science and dictate vaccine schedules to American families.
“I'll keep fighting back against Trump, RFK Jr., and the rest of these cronies who are endangering our nation's public health.
“There's no new evidence that supports this. He's just making up policies that would cost families more and make kids less safe.
“Parents deserve accurate, trusted medical guidance, not a White House-curated list designed to rubberstamp Secretary Kennedy's radical anti-vaccine agenda.
“Donald Trump's executive order puts debunked vaccine conspiracy theories ahead of children's lives.