The World Health Organization has condemned US President Donald Trump’s plan to split the MMR vaccine, warning it could undermine public confidence and worsen measles outbreaks amid rising cases in the United States.
The World Health Organization has criticised Donald Trump’s push to remake US vaccination policy, saying the move runs counter to a large body of scientific evidence and could further undermine public confidence in routine childhood immunisation. In Geneva, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said vaccines, including the measles, mumps and rubella shot, are safe and do not cause autism.
The rebuke came days after Trump signed an executive order seeking to split the combined MMR vaccine into three separate injections, a change public-health experts say has no scientific basis. According to Axios, the order followed recommendations from advisers aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has long promoted the false claim that vaccines can cause autism.
Kennedy’s role has kept the issue politically charged. Ars Technica reported last year that a federal CDC webpage was rewritten under his leadership to cast doubt on the settled scientific view that vaccines do not cause autism. The Washington Post has also reported on Kennedy’s repeated refusal to accept the overwhelming evidence on the subject during Senate questioning, while FactCheck.org noted that the autism-vaccine theory has been thoroughly debunked and that the original 1998 paper that helped fuel it was later retracted.
Public-health officials and medical groups warn that separating the MMR jab could make it costlier, slower and harder for families to complete, potentially depressing uptake at a time when measles is again a concern in the United States. Axios said measles cases in 2026 had already surpassed last year’s total, sharpening fears that any barrier to immunisation could leave more children exposed to a preventable disease.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
