Trump order seeks to stagger childhood vaccination administration

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to drastically change the childhood vaccine schedule by recommending shots be administered in separate visits to the doctor's office.

The executive order acts on Trump's long-held belief that splitting up routine childhood vaccinations across multiple visits lessens the risk of acquiring autism. Scientists have found no credible risk between vaccinations and autism.

"I've seen vaccinations the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body. And bad things happen," Trump said at the Oval Office signing on Monday, where he thanked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and "the MAHA moms."

The move drew sharp criticism from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, a gastroenterologist by training who has clashed with the administration on the issue of vaccines. He said Trump does not have the expertise to make these changes and said the policy change would "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," Cassidy said on the social platform X.

"This executive order is part of a troubling pattern by the administration to attempt to unilaterally change vaccine guidance, particularly for children, rather than relying on the transparent, scientific review," said Jan Carney, president of the American College of Physicians.

Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said the policy could exacerbate already growing childhood vaccination gaps and lead to increased pediatric deaths. He noted that measles cases are currently at a 35-year high in the United States and that the U.S. saw a record number of pediatric flu deaths during the 2024-25 respiratory virus season since they started being reported in 2004. Both diseases are vaccine-preventable.

"The executive order will cause more confusion for parents and healthcare providers, reduce vaccination rates and increase the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses," Wimmer said in a statement.