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The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics blasted President Trump’s Monday executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines.
“As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, today’s executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous,” Dr. Andrew Racine said in a release.
“Instead of ensuring every family can access life-saving vaccines for measles, influenza, RSV and more, federal leaders are once again spreading misleading claims,” he added.
Earlier Monday, Trump signed an executive order recommending pediatricians split up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot across three separate visits for children.
The “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” order divides vaccines into three categories: those recommended for all children, recommended for children at high risk of infection or recommended after consultation with a physician.
Under Trump’s guidelines, all children should receive separate vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and varicella, commonly known as chicken pox.
But only high-risk children should receive respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY and dengue vaccines, according to the president’s order.
While states set their own childhood vaccination schedules, federal policy typically guides them. Echoing the name of his executive order, Trump said in the Oval Office his recommendations recognize “gold standard vaccine recommendations.”
The president added, “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much [healthier], and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist.
“So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to where it was.”
But Racine pushed back against Trump’s claims, noting there is no scientifically proven link between childhood vaccines and autism.
“There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance,” he said. “Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families.”
Racine argued the executive order “will do nothing to support families of children with autism or advance understanding” of the condition. Instead, he said the new recommendations are intended to “sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines.”
Racine later added, “On-time immunization keeps our kids and our communities healthy and thriving. If parents have questions about vaccines, I encourage them to talk with their child’s pediatrician or clinician.”
Outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a medical doctor, decried Trump’s executive order as “wrong” and said the president “does not have the expertise to make these changes.”
Cassidy wrote on social media, “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.
“Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order. This is so wrong.”
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