Trump repeats baseless autism claim with child vaccines order

US President Donald Trump has ordered major changes to America’s childhood vaccination policy while again promoting the unsupported claim that vaccines could be linked to autism.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday, 10 August, seeking changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, including separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into individual injections.

The order also advocates spacing vaccines across separate medical appointments rather than administering several at the same visit.

The changes mark another significant shift in US vaccine policy under Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has previously questioned established vaccination policy and promoted claims about links between vaccines and autism. However, extensive scientific research has found no causal relationship between childhood vaccination and autism.

The World Health Organization carried out an updated review of the evidence in 2025 and concluded that available research does not support a causal link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder.

The long-running controversy surrounding MMR and autism largely stems from a 1998 paper suggesting a possible association. That research was subsequently discredited and retracted, while numerous large studies conducted since have found no evidence that MMR vaccination causes autism.

The latest order could also have practical implications for families. Requiring vaccines to be administered across more appointments could create additional barriers to completing childhood vaccination schedules, public health experts have warned.

Vaccination requirements in the US are largely determined by individual states, meaning the executive order cannot simply replace state vaccination laws.

The move nevertheless represents a significant intervention in US childhood vaccination policy and once again places a scientifically unsupported claim about autism at the centre of the national vaccine debate.

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