US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that calls for fewer vaccines for children. It also recommends that the mumps, measles, and rubella (MMR) vaccines be split into three separate, individual doses.
“Decades ago, children received only a fraction of the vaccines that are required today,” Trump said Monday. “Back then, people were much healthier and, of course, the high rates of autism that we see today didn’t exist.”
The Trump administration has long supported the alleged link between vaccines and autism. However, numerous studies have found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said his administration "does not recognize the gold standard recommendations for childhood vaccines for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases."
"We're reducing them. It's not just that you're doing fewer vaccines, or shots, as they say, but you're doing them in a series of doctor visits ," Trump said.