Trump’s executive order on vaccines criticised by Republican senator - but there’s one problem | indy100

Trump orders fewer childhood vaccinations including splitting up MMR

Aljazeera / VideoElephant

US president Donald Trump returned to the issue of childhood vaccinations on Monday, when he signed an executive order on “Delivering gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for Americans”, which discusses splitting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine – long incorrectly linked to autism – into three separate jabs.

It follows a press conference in September – the same event which saw the Republican push the disproven claim that Tylenol is associated with autism – in which the convicted felon said that when the three vaccines are ‘mixed’, there “could be a problem”.

The new executive order reads: “The Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations also recognize that the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits.”

However, in a review of the MMR vaccine by researchers David Ellman (of St George’s Hospital in London) and Dr Helen Bedford (of the Institute of Child Health), published in Archive of Disease in Childhood in 2001, the academics write that “there is no case for the use of single vaccines”.

It reads: “There is a large body of evidence to show that MMR vaccine is highly effective and only rarely causes serious side effects. This is from research studies as well as from years of experience using MMR vaccine.

“It has been used in the USA for nearly 30 years, in Scandinavia for nearly 20 years, and in the UK since 1988. In contrast, a regimen of giving single measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine separately to preschool children has never been used anywhere in the world.

“We therefore have no research evidence about the safety and effectiveness of the single vaccines used in this way as well as no experience. This means there are a number of important unanswered questions: is this regimen safe, what are the side effects, does it provide children with adequate protection against the diseases, in what order should the single vaccines be given, and what is the optimum time interval between doses?

“Using separate vaccines is an untried and untested policy and, as far as protecting children from infectious disease is concerned, a backward step.”

Among those criticising the US president’s new executive order is Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who said it was “wrong” and that Trump “does not have the expertise to make these changes”.

He continued: “Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism.

“Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe.

“Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order. This is so wrong.”

However, despite Cassidy being critical of the executive order, fellow X/Twitter users pointed out that the Republican voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr as the US secretary of health and human services, who has since been questioning the efficacy of vaccines in the top job.

Media outlet MeidasTouch tweeted: “The time to act was when you had the power to block RFK Jr”:

Garrett Haake, chief White House correspondent at NBC News, commented: “Senator Bill Cassidy - a medical doctor and liver disease specialist - cast the deciding vote to confirm @SecKennedy and spoke on the floor about the assurances he received that Kennedy - and the admin - would not change existing vaccine recommendations”:

“Yea well, RFK Jr doesn’t have the expertise to be in charge of this nation’s public health, yet you voted to confirm him,” said former Republican congressman Joe Walsh.

Migrant Insider editor Pablo Manríquez wrote sarcastically: “Gee I wonder who coulda stopped this, senator…”:

Political commentator Jo Carducci, known online as JoJoFromJerz, responded: “You are the one who put Bobby Brain Worm in charge of our health, you f***ing coward”:

And MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski said: “This is also your legacy. You did this”:

Cassidy has been approached by indy100 for comment.

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