Trump Orders Changes to Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
President Trump has signed an executive order directing the federal government to develop what the White House calls "Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations," reducing the number of diseases for which routine childhood immunization is recommended and giving parents more flexibility in vaccination decisions.
The order calls for routine immunization recommendations covering 11 diseases, down from 18 diseases included in the CDC's 2024 childhood schedule. Vaccines no longer routinely recommended for all children would instead be subject to shared clinical decision-making between parents and clinicians, according to the White House.
The order also recommends separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) combination vaccine into individual shots and administering childhood vaccines during separate medical visits, providing parents with more control over the timing and frequency of vaccinations, according to the White House.
States with school vaccination requirements are advised to consider the new recommendations when reviewing their laws. The order also directs federal agencies to promote the recommendations within their existing authorities and emphasizes protections related to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations and equal protection.
The White House says the recommendations are based in part on a January 2026 HHS scientific assessment comparing U.S. childhood immunization practices with those of developed peer countries. The assessment concluded that the U.S. recommends more childhood vaccines than any of those countries and identified 11 vaccines that it said are consistently recommended across peer nations.
The executive order is part of the Trump administration's broader "Make America Healthy Again" initiative. The administration previously moved the Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for children from a blanket recommendation to shared clinical decision-making.
Advocacy group Public Citizen says the Trump administration is "continuing a mindless anti-scientific assault on the childhood vaccine schedule and falsely tying vaccines to autism. There is no medical reason for the MMR vaccine to be split into three separate single disease shots that would be administered at separate office visits, changes that would only decrease vaccine coverage and increase health care costs. Under the draft executive order, mandatory vaccine requirements for children to attend school would be also put at further risk. These and other directives are the exact opposite of ‘Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations’ during the worst year for measles cases in decades.”
Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement on President Trump’s executive order: "This executive order lets political appointees attempt to overrule decades of peer-reviewed science and dictate vaccine schedules to American families. Let’s put this in context: the same Administration that gutted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and stacked it with vaccine skeptics is now cutting out the expertise of independent scientists altogether. Parents deserve accurate, trusted medical guidance, not a White House-curated list designed to rubberstamp Secretary Kennedy’s radical anti-vaccine agenda. I urge the Administration to reverse course before this executive order doubles down on the damage done to public trust and the health of our nation's children."