Trump Signs Order to Split Childhood MMR Vaccine Amid Medical Warnings

On the night between August 11 and 12, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing a change in childhood vaccination protocols. The order mandates separating the combined MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, into three distinct 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 more time to cope with the vaccines.

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

Trump was accompanied by 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 the vaccination schedule, recommending certain vaccines only for high-risk groups and making others, such as influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, subject to shared decision-making between parents and doctors. Republican Senator and physician Bill Cassidy criticized the order, stating that vaccines are completely safe and that splitting them would increase the number of injections children must receive.

The move has sparked international concern, including from the Israeli Public Health Physicians Association, which condemned the change as unscientific and dangerous to public health. They emphasized the risk of politicizing vaccination policies and pledged to protect public health in Israel from anti-scientific approaches.