The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) released a joint statement yesterday saying President Donald Trump’s executive order “Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans,” is based on anything but gold-standard science.
“This executive order will deny Americans access to life-saving vaccines, increase vaccine hesitancy, and make America’s children and adults less healthy,” the statement read. “The science about vaccines and their efficacy has not changed."
Medical organizations sounded the alarm that such an order was anything but helpful to American parents after the August 10 executive order that would change the childhood immunization schedule to 11 immunizations, down from a recommended 17, and “break up” the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate stand-alone vaccines.
Today drug-maker Merck told Reuters that separating the MMR vaccine could take up to 10 years, even under current expedited pathways.
The only purpose of this announcement is to sow confusion.
The American Academy of Pediatrics was one of the first medical groups to denounce the executive order. “There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance,” said Andrew D. Racine, MD, PhD, the president American Academy of Pediatrics. “The only purpose of this announcement is to sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines. Delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.”
Last week US measles cases approached 2,500—the most in 35 years—with Pennsylvania now being the nation’s hot spot.
Racine said the executive order also does nothing to advance the scientific understanding of rising autism rates, a pet theory of the White House that has been debunked by more than 30 years of studies.
Order will sow doubt, not trust, AMA says
The White House maintains the executive order will inspire Americans to have more trust in vaccines, but the American Medical Association (AMA) said the order will have the opposite effect.
“Altering a proven vaccination schedule without credible evidence risks weakening public confidence and putting children’s health at risk,” said Willie Underwood III, MD, MPH, the president of the AMA.
Moreover, the executive order will have several downstream effects, the American College of Physicians added.
“The changes could increase costs to patients and families, including additional copays, while also placing a greater burden on families needing to schedule multiple appointments for a multiple-dose MMR vaccine,” the organization said in a statement. “Children and caregivers deserve better consideration for the downstream impact of these proposed changes.”
