Long before he became secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had determined a way to upend the crowded childhood vaccine schedule and replace it with one based on “gold standard” science. On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Delivering gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for Americans.”
The order aims to reduce the number of vaccines from 70-plus to “11 core vaccinations.” It also recommends spacing out shots, separating the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three doses delivered over 18 months. Trump stated: “At one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day.”
Furthermore, the order seeks to remove the Covid-19, hepatitis B, and influenza vaccines from the list of those recommended for children.
According to the executive order, HHS conducted a study revealing that the U.S. recommends more vaccines than any peer country, sometimes “more than twice as many.” While other countries rely on “public trust and education,” American children are coerced into receiving vaccines or face exclusion from government schools. The order states the government should “support maximal parental choice over childhood vaccines.”
Opponents include Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), who said: “Science about vaccines and their efficacy has not changed. The distribution of viruses and other pathogens in our environment has not changed. Children in this country have not changed in the last 48 hours.”
The AAP is among multiple medical groups that have sued Kennedy to halt an effort from early this year to alter the childhood vaccine schedule and limit the Covid-19 shot. A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked Kennedy’s rules, a decision Kennedy has appealed.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chair of the Senate’s committee on health, criticized the order as a “willy-nilly” decision by a president who “has likely never read a study on vaccines.” However, he is incorrect; the order is backed by HHS research and reflects documented concerns among doctors, experts, and parents.
Dr. Robert Malone, an inventor of mRNA technology used in Covid-19 vaccines and former member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) hired by Kennedy, praised the move. He noted: “Trump just signed an executive order spacing out the childhood vaccine schedule. In my book, it couldn’t have happened soon enough.”
Malone stated he has met “countless parents who have children with severe vaccine injuries,” including cases of brain swelling causing permanent damage and developmental delays linked to febrile seizures or hypotonic-hyporesponsive episodes.
Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense (founded by Kennedy), believes the order may save lives. He noted that delaying hepatitis B and the new RSV jab until 2 months of age instead of birth could reduce infant mortality rates, as U.S. infant deaths peak in the first week of life.
However, the order leaves significant questions unanswered. Hooker explained: “Very little impact has been made to the multiplicity of shots children will receive at 2-month, 4-month, 6-month, and 12-month check-ups. These shots have not been tested in combination in controlled trials, so each infant is a science experiment with a sample size of one.”
Pediatrician Dr. Joel Walsh expressed confusion: “I do not understand how this is supposed to work. The childhood vaccine schedule is not ordinarily created because the president sits in the Oval Office and announces how many vaccines children should receive.”
The order requires states to align with new recommendations, but it’s likely some will resist with support from groups like the AAP.
Kennedy has long attributed widespread adverse effects to the vaccine schedule. He noted that in 1962, three vaccines were recommended in five doses; by 1989, the schedule had expanded to 24 doses of 11 vaccines following the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. This law granted vaccine manufacturers liability immunity for injuries caused by CDC-recommended vaccines after manufacturers claimed they could not afford compensation. Today, the recommended number of shots has tripled to up to 77 doses for 18 diseases.
Some argue Kennedy undercounts past vaccine numbers, but regardless, the number of recommended vaccines and the compulsion to receive them have increased exponentially. The order aims to reduce both.
The executive order mandates the HHS Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines to produce a report within 90 days on implementation. Kennedy asserted his agency would deliver results sooner: “We will bring you actions and findings as soon as they are ready.”
The move faces likely strong opposition, evidenced by the ongoing lawsuit against Kennedy over similar proposals.