President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order recommending that the childhood MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, be split into three vaccines administered at three separate doctor visits.
In addition to the changes to the MMR vaccine, Trump’s order also directs U.S. health officials to improve vaccine research, according to The Associated Press.
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During his signing ceremony, Trump said “nothing bad can happen” with his move. But public health experts have raised concerns about separating vaccine routines. They suggest that it could lead to an increased risk of children becoming infected with vaccine-preventable diseases between doctor visits. There are currently no separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines available in the U.S.
Trump’s order comes at a time when measles cases are rising in the U.S. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the country has seen nearly 2,500 cases of the disease since the year began. That’s already more than all the cases seen in 2025, according to CDC data. According to a letter published in May in The Lancet, the U.S. is “highly likely” to lose its measles elimination status this November.
Trump, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has tried to connect childhood vaccines with the increasingly prevalent number of autism in children. The president has increased pressure on Kennedy to identify the cause of autism, something that Kennedy had hoped to do with new research he unveiled last year. In September, the administration claimed that the over-the-counter medication Tylenol was linked to autism. But previous, large-scale studies about the drug found no link.
Vaccines are rigorously studied. To date, no credible study has ever definitively linked vaccines to autism.
Changes to vaccine guidelines
When it comes to schools, the federal government has little say in what schoolchildren are required to have before they start class. States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for students.
The order will advise states with school vaccine requirements to consider updating their laws to reflect the administration’s new recommendations, according to the order.
In December, Trump ordered HHS to review how other nations implement their vaccine guidelines and to consider revisions to U.S. guidance. In response, the department cut the number of vaccines it recommends for children, but that move has since been blocked in court. Health experts said at the time of the decision that it was based on incomplete scientific evidence.
The lack of evidence and studies pointing to their conclusion that vaccines may cause autism hasn’t stopped the administration. On Monday, Kennedy again said that he believes an unknown environmental factor is the cause of rising autism diagnoses. He said his department will release the evidence they have found “as soon as they are ready,” the AP reported.
It is true that autism diagnoses have dramatically risen over the last few decades. The CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which estimates how many children meet the criteria for autism spectrum disorder every two years, found that the prevalence of autism among 8-year-olds has risen nearly fivefold in the past two decades.
But researchers don’t point to vaccines as the reason. Instead, they say that increased awareness of the disorder could explain some of the rise. But others say that it could be because of other factors like the maternal age being higher than it was in the past, or even maternal obesity rates.
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