Trump to sign executive order to reevaluate childhood vaccines

Washington — President Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order on Monday laying out new recommendations for childhood vaccinations, sources familiar with the plans told CBS News. 

A draft of the order, which was obtained by CBS News, said there should be a more limited number of vaccines recommended for children, and it directed the Health and Human Services Department to reassess vaccine sequencing and timing within 90 days.

This would upend decades of federal guidance on which vaccines are administered to children, just as the school year is about to begin in many states. 

The draft order also encouraged single-dose vaccines, rather than combination shots, saying, “to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits.” For instance, it recommends breaking the MMR vaccine into three shots. The order puts some vaccines, like RSV and hepatitis A and B, in a category of shots only for high-risk children. 

It comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January recommended reducing the number of childhood vaccinations to 11 immunizations. The American Academy of Pediatrics broke with the CDC and continued to recommend vaccination against 18 childhood diseases. 

In March, a federal judge blocked the CDC’s recommended changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

This is a developing news story and will be updated.