Earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order that reduced the number of recommended childhood immunizations and pushed for spacing out shots into separate doctor visits whenever possible. The changes include splitting up the long-administered MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, into separate shots
The order is not based on science. Experts warn it would likely lead to a decline in vaccinations
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That, of course, may be the point.
If our weakened public health is the disease, then disinformation is the pathogen that spreads it. And as used as we may be to Mr. Trump’s lies and exaggerations, as much as we may want to tune out his bluster, we must not shrug it off — because fighting the pathogen is essential to stopping its spread
Because the president and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaxxers’ champion, used the executive order to again promote a link between vaccines and autism, we will emphasize: A link does not exist. That notion has been proven false. Repeatedly
Mr. Trump also said that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccines could be “quite lethal”: “When you put them together, they’re sort of like a nuclear weapon.”
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The purpose of this exaggeration is to move the goalposts on reasonable debate. We’re not expected to agree that it’s nuke-level bad, but maybe we’d concede that some people think it’s a little bad?
No — it’s safe. Hundreds of millions of children worldwide have received the MMR vaccine
Those are just a few of the lies the president told to justify his immunization overhaul. Let’s dive into one more: “There’s nothing that we lose with this” change, Mr. Trump said. “The worst thing that would happen would be nothing happens. We’re not going to lose anything.”
He’s wrong about that, too. There’s plenty at stake in this plan
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First and foremost, kids getting separate shots at separate visits would have to wait longer before immunization protections begin. That would leave them more vulnerable to disease
The changes could further depress vaccination rates, since multiple studies link combination vaccines to higher rates of vaccine uptake. That presents a risk to infants and others who cannot be vaccinated and who rely on others’ immunity to protect them
It would mean more doctor’s appointments, obviously, which would strain medical offices. Parents would have to take time off work for those extra appointments, and they’d need to pay for them, too – while Medicaid is getting harder to access, also thanks to Mr. Trump
And, of course, separating out shots means more jabs in little arms — and anyone with a kid who’s scared of needles can tell you what heart-wrenching misery those doctor visits can be for both child and parent
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Mr. Trump’s executive order comes during America’s worst year for measles in decades. There have even been nine recent confirmed cases in upstate New York (but none, so far, in the Capital Region). And although the disease was officially declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, that may soon change: A United Nations agency is reviewing that status in November and may revoke it
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If there’s any cause for optimism here, it’s that an existing court order currently bars changes to the vaccine schedule; the order was issued earlier this year in response to Mr. Kennedy’s attempts at meddling
But the assault on vaccines isn’t slowing down. Earlier this week, Mr. Kennedy’s agency announced in the Federal Register that the government is considering revamping how it presents its vaccine recommendations, creating new categories such as “recommended with qualification” and “shared clinical decision-making with qualification.” That’s likely to sow more confusion and vaccine hesitancy
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All the more essential for parents and policymakers to inoculate themselves with the facts. That’s the only preventive that can protect our children and our communities from this public-health madness
