Trump Signs Order to Separate Childhood MMR Vaccines Amid Medical Warnings

US President Donald Trump signed a presidential order on the night between August 11 and 12, 2026, directing a change in the routine childhood vaccination schedule. The order mandates splitting the combined MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, into three separate injections spaced out over time. Trump claimed that children currently receive vaccine doses "the size of a soda bottle" and argued that spreading out the shots would allow the body to better handle them.

This directive contradicts established guidelines from leading health organizations and the broad scientific consensus. Medical experts warn that separating the MMR vaccine could leave children vulnerable to serious diseases for extended periods before completing the full vaccination series. Currently, the combined MMR vaccine components are not sold separately in the US, and the Department of Health has been instructed to develop a plan to make them available within 90 days.

Standing alongside Trump was US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has expressed doubts about vaccine safety and suggested a link to autism, a claim refuted by over 40 studies involving more than five million children. The scientific community unanimously agrees there is no connection between vaccines and autism.

The order also revises vaccine recommendations, limiting certain vaccines such as hepatitis A and B, meningococcal, and dengue fever to high-risk groups only. Vaccines for influenza and COVID-19 will be subject to shared decision-making between parents and doctors. Republican Senator and physician Bill Cassidy criticized the order, stating that the president lacks the expertise to make such changes and emphasizing that vaccines are completely safe.

In Israel, the Public Health Physicians Association condemned the US policy shift as unscientific and dangerous, warning it threatens public health not only in the US but globally. They pledged to protect Israeli public health from politicization and anti-scientific approaches.