Trump Order Changes Childhood Vaccine Recommendations, Drawing Medical Pushback

President Donald Trump issued an executive order reducing the number and schedule of recommended childhood vaccines. Outlets on the right framed the decision as shifting medical power to parents, while outlets on the right and center tended to emphasize pushback from the larger medical community.

The Details: Trump's order, called the "Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations," reduces the number of recommended vaccines from 18 to 11 as well as suggests parents spread out the vaccines over 5 appointments rather than administering them all at once. The order also splits vaccines into three categories: those recommended for all children, those recommended for children at high risk of infection, and those recommended after consultation with a physician. In the memo, the president wrote, "Parents can still choose to give their children all of the vaccinations if they wish, it's up to the parents—we're making recommendations that are strong—but it's up to the parents if they wish, and they will be covered by insurance. However, this updated recommendation finally aligns the United States with other advanced and developed nations around the world. More importantly, it aligns us with common sense and knowledge."

For Context: Trump said that his new recommendations align more closely with other peer nations in Europe, according to Fox News (Right bias). However, Reuters (Center) reported that "vaccine experts say that other developed countries that may recommend ⁠fewer shots face different disease risks and have different healthcare systems."

How the Media Covered It: Fox News wrote that Trump's order "dramatically shift[s] medical power to parents," emphasizing the reported alignment with other countries' vaccine schedules and the president's continued support of the Make America Healthy Again movement. Reuters reported on the World Health Organization's response to the order, writing that the organization "defended" its "science-based" process of determining childhood immunization schedules. Both Reuters and CNBC (Lean Left) denied Trump's comments linking vaccines to autism. Reuters wrote that "scientific studies and public health authorities have found no evidence of a link" between autism and childhood vaccines, and CNBC wrote that Trump "falsely tied vaccines to autism."

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.