President Donald Trump signed an executive order on 29 May 2026 that trims the list of vaccines recommended for children and calls for the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot to be administered as separate injections, according to a White House fact sheet. The order directs federal health agencies to treat an internal Department of Health and Human Services scientific assessment as a guiding document for revising the schedule, sidestepping the process traditionally led by independent scientists. States, not the federal government, ultimately decide which vaccines are required for school enrolment, so the order carries no legal force over those requirements.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump argued that vaccination rates decades ago were far lower and that children were healthier as a result.
"Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today," Trump said. "In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist."
He went on to frame the changes as a return to essential protections rather than a wholesale rollback.
"We're reducing them," Trump said. "It's not only that you're doing fewer vaccines, or jabs, as they say, but you're doing them in a series of visits to the doctor."
Which vaccines remain on the recommended list?
The order recognises what Trump called "gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations" for 11 core immunisations covering the most serious childhood diseases. Those are shots for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV) and varicella, or chicken pox. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since said it will reorganise the broader childhood immunisation schedule into three separate categories, according to a CDC statement, while confirming that insurers must continue covering the accepted recommendations without cost-sharing. The American Hospital Association has noted that other vaccines, including those for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, influenza and some meningococcal strains, are being shifted into "high-risk" or "shared decision-making" categories rather than being universally recommended, according to the American Hospital Association.
Is there scientific support for linking MMR vaccines to autism?
No. The administration has repeatedly promoted a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism that multiple independent studies have failed to substantiate. The HHS assessment cited in support of the order itself argues that more "gold standard" evidence, including placebo-controlled randomised trials and long-term observational studies, is still needed before firmer conclusions can be drawn, according to the CDC statement.
How does this fit into the administration's wider vaccine record?
This is not the administration's first attempt to reshape vaccine guidance around comparisons with other nations. It had already signalled the shift in late May 2026, when Trump signed an earlier executive order instructing HHS and the CDC to review childhood vaccine recommendations used in what it called peer developed countries. A subsequent analysis published in June 2026 concluded that comparing US policy directly to other nations' schedules is not a valid comparative framework for setting vaccine policy. Separately, our earlier reporting found that newly released emails challenged Robert F. Kennedy Jr's claim that a 2019 trip to Samoa was unrelated to vaccines, adding to scrutiny of vaccine-sceptic figures now influential within the administration's health policy circle.
What happens next?
The CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are expected to take further steps to revise the official childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule once they have reviewed the HHS assessment, per the White House fact sheet. HHS agencies have also been directed to fund additional research, including further trials and observational studies, on vaccines that remain on the schedule, according to the CDC.
Key Facts
- Trump signed the order on 29 May 2026, according to the White House.
- The order recommends 11 core childhood vaccines and calls for splitting the MMR shot into separate doses.
- Vaccine requirements for school attendance remain a state-level decision, not a federal one.
- The CDC says it will sort the immunisation schedule into three categories while keeping cost-free insurance coverage for accepted vaccines.
- HHS has been directed to fund further research into vaccines still included on the schedule.
