ABSTRACT

President Donald Trump on Aug. 10 signed an executive order directing that U.S. children receive fewer vaccines, urging states to reconsider school vaccine mandates, ordering the Justice Department to sue states that do not provide religious and medical exemptions from those mandates, and calling for the decades-old measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) combination vaccine to be separated into three individual shots.

TIME

Trump Signs Executive Order Calling for Fewer Childhood Vaccines and Splitting the MMR Shot

Aug 12, 2026, 1:13 PM

Context

The federal childhood immunization schedule — which influences insurance coverage, state school requirements, and clinical practice — is established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following input from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a legally mandated process that does not involve executive orders.

In January, the CDC, acting under direction from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and following an earlier presidential memorandum, revised the schedule to reduce routinely recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. Six vaccines — for COVID-19, seasonal flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, and rotavirus — were moved to a risk-based recommendation rather than universal recommendation, while parents retained the option to vaccinate against those diseases after consulting a physician. A federal judge blocked that revision in March, ruling it was unlawful because ACIP had not been consulted.

Trump's new executive order calls for similar changes to those the CDC had attempted, and states it is 'taking further action to reaffirm' those changes amid ongoing litigation. As of July 2025, the federal childhood immunization schedule still recommends routine vaccines for 16 diseases, with COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children recommended on a shared decision-making basis rather than universally. Insurance companies continue to cover all vaccines in the AAP schedule, including COVID-19 shots.

The MMR vaccine was originally licensed as three separate vaccines in the 1960s before being combined and approved as a single vaccine in 1971. It has been in use for more than 50 years. The executive order continues to recommend the MMR vaccine for all children, while also calling for it to be split back into three separate shots.

Before signing the order, Trump said, without citing evidence, that the combined MMR vaccine could be 'quite lethal.' He also cited rising autism rates as a rationale for changing vaccine recommendations and claimed children receive vaccines the size of a 'bottle of soda.' During the signing ceremony he said, 'Today we're proud to officially announce the United States of America's gold-standard childhood vaccination recommendations.'

The executive order's directive to the DOJ to pursue or support lawsuits against states lacking adequate vaccine exemptions, and to the Department of Education to withhold grants from such states, is the section legal experts say carries the most practical weight. Lawsuits related to vaccine exemptions are already pending in several states, including California and West Virginia.

The U.S. is currently recording more than 2,400 confirmed measles cases this year, described as a 35-year high. Kennedy's Senate-confirmed CDC director, Dr. Erica Schwartz, said at her confirmation hearing that she believes in vaccine safety and effectiveness but did not commit to opposing the president or Kennedy if she disagreed with them.

All Perspectives

Trump administration: Trump described the order as announcing the country's 'gold-standard childhood vaccination recommendations' and cited rising autism rates and what he characterized as an increase in the number of vaccines children receive compared with past decades as justifications. He said of the combined MMR vaccine that 'together, there could be a possibility they're quite lethal,' without citing evidence.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): AAP president Dr. Andrew Racine said in a statement: 'As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, [the] executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous. There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance.'

Infectious Disease Society of America: President Dr. Ronald G. Nahass said in a statement that the action 'follows an alarming pattern of government efforts to reduce Americans' access to vaccines and sow unfounded doubt about vaccine safety and effectiveness.'

Dr. Paul Offit, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Offit said the executive order 'doesn't have the rule of law behind it' and predicted 'nothing will come of this,' while also warning 'this is going to create confusion and chaos.' He said shots contain no more than a teaspoon of liquid, usually less, rebutting Trump's 'bottle of soda' claim. He characterized Kennedy as 'an antivaccine activist' and said, 'now we have more cases of whooping cough, flu, and measles in children than before.'

Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University: Schaffner said of the call to split the MMR vaccine: 'These vaccines have been delivered together in millions of doses for decades. No data was presented to suggest that administering them separately is safer than administering them together. There's no scientific basis for this.' He noted that separate licensing would be time-consuming and expensive, would mean more shots for children, more work for doctors, and higher insurance costs, and warned that the proposal could cause parental confusion.

Dorit Reiss, vaccine policy expert, UC College of the Law San Francisco: Reiss said executive orders instruct agencies on how to enforce existing laws but are not laws themselves, and that federal vaccine recommendations are made through a separate legal process. She said the CDC director could face pressure to act on the order but that any renewed attempt to change the schedule without ACIP's involvement would likely face similar legal challenges as before. She noted the DOJ directive on exemption lawsuits as the section of the order with the most practical effect, saying 'the government can be influential in courts, especially the Supreme Court,' and that 'the real political play will be at the state level.'

Position not represented in the source reporting: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (HHS Secretary); CDC / Dr. Erica Schwartz (CDC Director).

Where sources differ

The starting number of vaccines the order moves away from: TIME reports the current schedule recommends routine vaccines for 16 diseases; Deutsche Welle reports the order reduces recommendations from 18 vaccines to 11.
TIME states a prior CDC schedule revision attempted to reduce routinely recommended vaccines from 17 to 11 and was blocked by a federal judge; Deutsche Welle does not mention this prior legal history.

Gaps & Unknowns

The source does not include a response from the CDC, CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz, or HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the specific executive order.
The source does not detail which states are currently targeted by or involved in the exemption-related lawsuits beyond naming California and West Virginia.
The source does not specify what evidence or studies, if any, the administration relied upon in drafting the order.
The source does not report whether any vaccine manufacturers have responded to the proposal to split the MMR vaccine.
The source does not describe the precise legal status or next steps of the January CDC schedule revision litigation.

Sources & Further Reading

TIME — original — by Dominique Mosbergen
Deutsche Welle — by Zulfikar Abbany

Read the original at TIME

Related Coverage