On Monday, the US President signed an executive order instructing that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine be broken into three separate shots. The order also directs that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunisations should be administered at separate medical visits.
The President had previously stated in September that his desire for separate MMR shots was "based on what I feel." The White House fact sheet for the order cited a complaint that American children are recommended more vaccine doses than children in other developed nations.
Under the new order, the number of diseases every child is recommended to be protected against falls from 18 to 11. Diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, influenza, Covid-19, meningococcal disease, and RSV are no longer universally recommended.
According to Robert B Shpiner, an internist and clinical professor of medicine, there is no evidence to support spacing out vaccine doses. A 2013 review by the Institute of Medicine found no safety concerns with the American schedule and no reason to spread doses out. Studies in 2019 and last month found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism.
The order also concedes that the instruction to split vaccines cannot currently be carried out, as single-disease products are not domestically available. Merck stopped making them in 2008 and stated in 2009 it would not resume production.