The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concern over U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to overhaul the recommended childhood vaccination schedule.
WHO on Wednesday also reaffirmed the safety of childhood vaccines in response to the directive.
WHO Secretary-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, underscored the critical role of vaccination in protecting public health.
He acknowledged that “every parent wants to keep their children safe, and vaccines are among the most powerful tools for doing that, making deadly diseases preventable.”
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order calling for a reduction in the number of routine childhood immunisations from 18 to 11.
The administration’s Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations also advocate separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three single-disease shots administered during separate medical appointments.
The policy aims to improve vaccine research and maximise parental choice over the vaccines their children receive, while ensuring state compliance with constitutional and federal statutory obligations regarding parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations and equal protection under the law.
Tedros said WHO was concerned that the changes “are not aligned with decades of evidence” on when children should be immunised, how many doses are needed and which vaccines can safely be administered together.
“The current evidence is unequivocal: vaccines – including the MMR vaccine – are safe and do not cause autism,” he said.
Moreover, “delaying vaccines or separating doses unnecessarily does not make vaccination safer and can leave children unprotected.” he added.
Tedros said “global evidence and recommendations, including from WHO” inform national experts in determining which vaccines and schedules are best suited to their countries.
He stressed that “vaccination policy should be guided by rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science, not by political influence.”
