(WKYT) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday changing vaccine recommendations for children, reducing the number of federally recommended vaccines.
The new policy recommends 12 vaccines, including chicken pox, tetanus, HPV, and polio. The RSV and hepatitis vaccines will only be recommended for high-risk groups, while vaccines such as the annual flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine are left for doctors and patients to decide on.
MMR vaccine changes
The executive order also recommends splitting the MMR combination vaccine — which covers measles, mumps, and rubella — into three separate vaccines given at three different times, rather than the two doses currently administered. Jennifer Burchett, nurse administrator with the Clark County Health Department, said the MMR combination vaccine has been in use since 1971.
“I don’t know how quickly you could make a separate — we call them antigen — like the measles, mumps, rubella separate. So, we will continue to use what we have, certainly,” Burchett said. “It’s not only going to be confusing just in our area, it’s going to be confusing state to state,” she said.
Autism claim disputed
During the signing, the president pointed to rates of autism to justify the changes, repeating a claim that multiple scientific studies, the CDC, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have repeatedly debunked. Trump said, “Decades ago children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” and that “high rates of autism didn’t exist then.” The president did not cite evidence for those claims.
Retired family physician Jeff Foxx said there is no scientific basis for the claim.
“There is no evidence that these vaccines attribute or cause autism. I don’t think we know what the cause of autism is, but there’s no evidence that vaccines are part of that,” Foxx said.
Kentucky law unchanged
The executive order carries the weight of federal guidance, not law. Each state controls immunization requirements for children attending school.
“States have purview over those things and, you know, that would have to pass through the state legislature. So I think we’re looking at a very long process and a very early stage of that long process,” Burchett said.
Foxx said his message to parents is to talk to their doctor.
“If you’re going to school, you could say ‘I don’t want a vaccine for whatever reason.’ But then you get that disease and you give it to your friends. So not only do you protect yourself, you protect the people you care about,” Foxx said.
Burchett also raised concerns about vaccines being removed from the recommended schedule.
“These are all life-saving vaccines that have shown to save lives, be safe. I’m not sure why we would want to only recommend those for children at high risk. Wouldn’t we want all of our children to be protected by those?” she said.
Parents with questions about their child’s vaccines are encouraged to contact their doctor or local health department.