Trump signs directive scaling back US childhood vaccine recommendations

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order scaling back federal childhood vaccination guidelines to cover 11 core diseases.

The directive, presented alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., encourages spacing out immunizations and splitting combination shots—such as the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—into individual doses across separate visits. Trump described the overhaul as a "gold standard" approach based on "common sense" to align the United States with other developed nations.

However, the initiative has drawn strong opposition from medical organizations and the scientific community, who warn that altering the schedule risks public health and revives unproven claims linking vaccines to autism. Legal hurdles and state-level authority over school immunization requirements may also impact the order's implementation.

Sources: Euronews Greece, Mediapool, ORF, Svenska Dagbladet, The Insider.