Trump Administration Re-Examines MMR Vaccine, Calls for Separate Shots
The Trump administration is revisiting vaccine protocols, with a senior health official calling for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be broken into three separate shots, a move that experts warn could hinder vaccination rates and increase costs.
Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), made the call on Monday, stating, “I call on vaccine manufacturers to develop safe monovalent vaccines to replace the combined MMR and ‘break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots.’” This followed a post from Donald Trump on September 26th urging against the use of Tylenol and “mixed” vaccines, as well as delaying hepatitis B vaccination. Many current vaccines are combined to minimize the number of injections children receive, a practice supported by decades of research.
Experts strongly disagree with the proposed change. Jason Schwartz, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, described the move as “a remarkably complicated, time-consuming, costly, but more importantly unnecessary action.” He explained that separating the vaccines would significantly increase the number of required doctor visits – potentially up to 20 for a six-month-old – and could lead to fewer children completing the full vaccination series. This comes at a time when the U.S. is already facing its worst measles outbreak in decades, highlighting the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, added, “Splitting them up serves no purpose…We’re already talking about difficulties in affording all of this.” Further complicating matters, some vaccines, like the DTaP shot, cannot be separated.
The CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) had a meeting planned for October 22-23, but it has been indefinitely postponed. The ACIP previously discussed and rejected the idea of separating the MMR vaccine over two decades ago, following the publication of a now-retracted study falsely linking the combined vaccine to autism. That study, led by Andrew Wakefield, was found to be fraudulent and based on a conflict of interest – Wakefield had filed a patent application for a monovalent measles vaccine. The recent move to remove the recommendation for the combined MMR and varicella vaccine has already caused confusion among healthcare providers and patients, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials have not indicated when the ACIP meeting will be rescheduled or what further actions the administration may take regarding vaccine recommendations.
