The World Health Organization has warned that recent US vaccine guidance shifts, including splitting the MMR vaccine into separate doses, lack scientific backing and could leave children more vulnerable to preventable illnesses.
The World Health Organization has raised alarm over the Trump administration’s new vaccine guidance, warning that the changes are not grounded in available scientific evidence and could leave children less protected against preventable disease. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that immunisation policy should rest on a thorough, independent and transparent review of the best evidence, not political influence.
His comments came after Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that would split the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three separate injections given at different visits. According to Axios, the order was backed by advisers aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has long pushed for a sweeping overhaul of childhood vaccination.
The WHO chief said decades of research show when children are most vulnerable to illness, when vaccines offer the strongest protection, how many doses are needed and which jabs can be given safely at the same time. He also stressed that delaying immunisation or spacing doses further apart does not make vaccines safer and can simply leave children exposed for longer.
Tedros reiterated that the evidence remains clear: vaccines, including the MMR shot, are safe and do not cause autism. That message reflects a broad scientific consensus that public health officials have repeatedly had to restate as Trump and Kennedy continue to promote a possible link between vaccination and autism despite the lack of supporting evidence.
The dispute comes as Kennedy has launched a far-reaching review of vaccine policy, revised the childhood immunisation schedule and cut funding for new vaccine development, moves that have drawn strong criticism from doctors and scientists. El País reported that the administration’s latest changes would reduce the number of diseases covered by federal childhood vaccine recommendations from 18 to 11, while experts have warned that the policy could make immunisation more cumbersome and may contribute to a resurgence of preventable illness at a time when measles is already spreading more widely.
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