Once again, President Donald Trump’s administration is going after vaccines.
The White House targeted childhood immunizations, specifically, as Trump signed an executive order this week recommending a reduction in the number of vaccines given to kids, bringing the suggested list down to 11 from 17. The order also calls for amendments to the vaccine schedule such as making the measles, mumps and rubella shot, or MMR, into three separate shots.
Trump also reiterated the claim – which has frequently been negated by the medical community – that vaccines cause autism in children. “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office before signing the order.
He added: “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 much closer to where it was.”
Following the signing, women experts were quick to refute those claims, and to decry the Trump administration’s broader decision.
Americans must stay “grounded in science and decades of data showing vaccines are among the most effective tools we have to prevent serious illness,” Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani of the Connecticut Department of Public Health said to NBC Connecticut, adding that consulting with trusted doctors is the best way for parents to “preserve the progress we’ve made against vaccine-preventable disease.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a renowned menopause expert, posted about the matter on Instagram. “A recommendation that changes because of new evidence is the scientific method working. A recommendation that changes because of politics is something else, and calling it ‘gold standard’ does not make it evidence.”
Haver added: “The American Academy of Pediatrics says there is no new evidence to justify it. So does the American College of Physicians. So does Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican and a physician, who said plainly that it is wrong.”
Philanthropist Melinda French Gates, in her own Instagram post, seconded Haver’s sentiment. “Vaccines save lives. Doctors know it. Scientists know it. Decades of research has proven it. And millions more children are alive and healthy as a result,” she wrote.
“When public health guidance strays from scientific evidence, it creates confusion, erodes trust in life-saving innovations, and makes it harder for families to access the care they need.”
