President Trump signed an executive order lowering the number of recommended vaccines for children, spacing out the vaccine schedule over longer periods, and suggesting breaking up the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (known as the MMR) into separate vaccines rather than all at once. The White House announced the new recommendations as the “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans.” The new policy lowers the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11, removing such vaccinations as the RSV vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine from the recommendations.

According to the announcement, the order was created to “maximize parental choices over vaccinations for their children and align three categories of childhood immunizations with scientific evidence and best practices from peer-reviewed countries.” It pushed for states to offer parents religious and medical exemptions from vaccinations and cited a January 2026 scientific study done by Health and Human Services (HHS), which compared the US’s vaccine requirements to peer nations. The US’s former vaccine schedule required more childhood vaccinations than many peer nations across the globe, sometimes requiring twice as many as other developed nations. The statement noted that vaccine doses had steadily increased since the 1980s. “In 1980, American children following the CDC immunization schedule received 23 vaccine doses in 7 shots against 7 different diseases,” it said, adding that by 2024, that number had increased dramatically to around 84 vaccine doses in at least 57 shots.

The order was quickly slammed by medical professionals, who claimed that President Trump was perpetuating the theory that vaccines cause autism. During the signing of the order, the President did not directly link vaccinations with autism, but did mention autism during the White House signing ceremony. “There are ​some groups that have virtually no problem with autism,” he said. “They’re groups that aren’t big into the world of vaccines, so there is something wrong.” Others expressed concerns that parents who wanted to give their children the full prior vaccine schedule would not have the additional vaccinations covered by insurance. The White House, however, emphasized that the new mandates were to give parents more autonomy and that vaccinations would still be covered by insurance. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana broke with the president over the order. Citing his own expertise as a doctor, he called the order “wrong.” “Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism,” he wrote. “Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe.”

The link between autism and vaccinations is hotly debated, with most mainstream medical professionals calling such a link bunk or unproven, while popular doctors like Dr. Suzanne Humphries and Dr. Robert Malone have been skeptical about the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing diseases and have particularly criticized the development of new mRNA vaccines like the COVID-19 vaccination and the upcoming mRNA flu vaccination. Both supported the order, giving more freedom to parents, but expressed concerns that the order would do little to actually enforce medical freedom or expose safety concerns over vaccines. “Yes, it will help lower infant mortality rates a little bit. (Will pregnant mothers still get mRNA and other shots? Those that escaped vaccines in the first two months may survive better but could be later neurologically impaired,” Dr. Humphries wrote on X. “And..they will only have lower mortality if vaccinators incorporate the suggested changes from the order. Otherwise, it’s the same. Good to have a lower infant mortality. Not good to relax while so much other damage goes unchecked. More infants may survive, but not for a great future if they are attacked with ongoing and new jabs, mRNA.”