Doctors, lawmakers condemn Trump order calling for sweeping changes to childhood vaccines
Medical experts and lawmakers are blasting Donald Trump’s executive order calling for sweeping changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.
The order calls for fewer childhood vaccines and would require that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine be broken into three separate shots. It would also recommend that all shots be given at separate medical visits, promoting the president’s long-held but baseless theory that the shots should be spaced out.
Jan Carney, president of the American College of Physicians, called the changes “problematic and deeply concerning.”
“This executive order is part of a troubling pattern by the administration to attempt to unilaterally change vaccine guidance, particularly for children, rather than relying on the transparent, scientific review that has guided the US childhood vaccine schedule for decades,” Carney said in a statement. “If implemented, 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.”
Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said current vaccine recommendations are “based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences.”
“Pediatricians recommend children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children’s immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases,” Racine said. “Sometimes this means children will receive a single shot that protects against multiple diseases, or they may receive multiple vaccines at one visit.”
Democratic representative Frank Pallone, meanwhile, said in a statement that Trump’s executive order cuts out “the expertise of independent scientists altogether.”
“Parents deserve accurate, trusted medical guidance, not a White House-curated list designed to rubberstamp Secretary Kennedy’s radical anti-vaccine agenda,” Pallone said. “I urge the Administration to reverse course before this executive order doubles down on the damage done to public trust and the health of our nation’s children.”
Democratic senator Patty Murray urged parents to “listen to your doctor NOT Trump or RFK Jr.”
“IGNORE Trump’s Executive Order,” Murray said. “There is NO link between vaccines and autism. In the middle of actual public health crises America deserves leaders informed by actual science. FIRE RFK Jr.”
Key events
Closing summary
That concludes our coverage of the second Trump administration for today. Here are the latest developments:
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President Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, an extraordinary move prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, the Washington Post reported Monday.
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Donald Trump signed an executive order that will involve splitting up the highly effective measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three single shots. The president also announced an overhaul to the childhood immunization schedule, scrapping recommendations for the hepatitis b, Covid-19 and influenza vaccines. He also suggested that the number of inoculations is linked to the rate of autism in the US, despite no proven link between the two. Medical experts have blasted the changes, calling it “problematic and deeply concerning.”
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Todd Blanche has been sworn as US attorney general, cementing Trump’s installation of his former personal attorney in charge of the Department of Justice. Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, was confirmed in his new position during a ceremony at the White House on Monday.
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Trump has named White House staff secretary Will Scharf to become White House counsel and assistant to the president, replacing David Warrington, who is taking a job in the private sector. In taking up that role, Scharf will become the White House’s top lawyer after overseeing the administrative work of the Oval Office in his current position.
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Lawyers for David Hearn, the Olympian who was arrested for alleged property destruction of the reflecting pool before his charges were dropped, said that the Trump administration is “continuing to attack an innocent man”.
Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on CNN that he will sue to force the Trump administration to restore his security clearance.
Kendall’s clearance was revoked Friday after the administration claimed he had disclosed sensitive information about the Qatari-gifted jet now serving as Air Force One. Kendall has denied disclosing classified information.
“As my mother taught me years ago, you stand up to bullies,” said Kendall.
President Trump took secret flight from Turkey in July amid Iranian threat – reports
According to The Washington Post, an Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump prompted an operation in July, in which he had to secretly fly from Turkey on an alternate military aircraft while the White House said he was aboard Air Force One.
The operation took place in Ankara, where the president had been for a NATO summit with world leaders. Trump boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then he was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post.
An official also confirmed the operation to the New York Times.
Trump’s actual location was concealed from journalists and some White House staff members.
A US official told the outlet that a credible threat to Trump involving Iran set the “deception operation” in motion.
The administration had previously claimed that Trump left Turkey on 8 July on the former Air Force One. The president had also announced on Truth Social that he would use the “former Air Force One” rather than the plane that flew him there, a new Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar.
Doctors, lawmakers condemn Trump order calling for sweeping changes to childhood vaccines
Medical experts and lawmakers are blasting Donald Trump’s executive order calling for sweeping changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.
The order calls for fewer childhood vaccines and would require that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine be broken into three separate shots. It would also recommend that all shots be given at separate medical visits, promoting the president’s long-held but baseless theory that the shots should be spaced out.
Jan Carney, president of the American College of Physicians, called the changes “problematic and deeply concerning.”
“This executive order is part of a troubling pattern by the administration to attempt to unilaterally change vaccine guidance, particularly for children, rather than relying on the transparent, scientific review that has guided the US childhood vaccine schedule for decades,” Carney said in a statement. “If implemented, 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.”
Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said current vaccine recommendations are “based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences.”
“Pediatricians recommend children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children’s immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases,” Racine said. “Sometimes this means children will receive a single shot that protects against multiple diseases, or they may receive multiple vaccines at one visit.”
Democratic representative Frank Pallone, meanwhile, said in a statement that Trump’s executive order cuts out “the expertise of independent scientists altogether.”
“Parents deserve accurate, trusted medical guidance, not a White House-curated list designed to rubberstamp Secretary Kennedy’s radical anti-vaccine agenda,” Pallone said. “I urge the Administration to reverse course before this executive order doubles down on the damage done to public trust and the health of our nation’s children.”
Democratic senator Patty Murray urged parents to “listen to your doctor NOT Trump or RFK Jr.”
“IGNORE Trump’s Executive Order,” Murray said. “There is NO link between vaccines and autism. In the middle of actual public health crises America deserves leaders informed by actual science. FIRE RFK Jr.”
Politico is reporting that members of the Trump administration asked Ohio Republicans not to wage a public pressure campaign against the embattled representative Max Miller despite allegations of domestic abuse against him.
The move comes as Miller has decided to stay in the race despite mounting calls for his resignation, refusing to step aside as the Republican nominee for Ohio’s 7th Congressional District ahead of Monday afternoon’s deadline.
Trump administration officials argued that messaging would get complicated if the same leaders who called for Miller’s resignation would later have to defend him in the general election.
“They basically told us to back off,” an Ohio Republican involved in the conversations told Politico, “and let the voters decide.”
Ilhan Omar questions whether Trump administration has used ICE to ‘surveil’ critics
Maya Yang
Donald Trump’s administration is facing questions over whether it is using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “surveil political opponents” after an investigative agent was apparently stationed outside Democratic representative Ilhan Omar’s monthly town hall meeting in Richfield, Minnesota.
After the incident, Omar demanded the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarify whether Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents have been used to monitor “any other activity” involving “local, state, or federal officials” in the state.
In a letter to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an arm of ICE, the congresswoman said an agent claiming to be conducting an undercover drug operation was parked outside the community center where she was holding an event last Thursday, without prior coordination with local law enforcement.
According to Omar, who represents Minnesota’s fifth congressional district, a Richfield police officer noticed the agent sitting in a Ford Explorer and “became suspicious of the way she was monitoring the building”.
Read the full story here:
Republican senator Bill Cassidy, a trained physician, called Trump’s latest executive order spacing out childhood vaccines “wrong.”
“I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong,” he said in a post on social media. “The President does not have the expertise to make these changes.”
“Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism,” Cassidy added. “Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe.”
“Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order. This is so wrong,” he wrote on Monday.
A judge has temporarily blocked New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax, which would place a surcharge on second homes in the city, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The emergency pause comes after a group of homeowners filed a lawsuit against Mamdani and the city’s finance director over the tax last week. They allege the city wrongly identified their homes as potentially subject to the surcharge despite the properties serving as their primary residences.
“The city has arbitrarily and capriciously foisted onto New York City residents the burden of proving they are not subject to the surcharge,” reads the complaint filed on Friday.
Amid the judge’s order on Monday, the city is barred from issuing any additional notices.
Mamdani’s critics accuse the democratic socialist mayor of targeting the wealthy, while others have welcomed the tax, seeing it as a helpful way to raise revenue from affluent property owners in a city grappling with a high cost of living.
Also asking Max Miller to step aside are members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, one of whom called the allegations against the congressmember “horrific” and “credible.”
“The horrific allegations levied against Max Miller, who has a lengthy record of alleged domestic violence, are credible and cannot be ignored,” said DCCC spokesperson Riya Vashi.
“Rather than step aside, Miller has chosen to cling to power and put his family and his constituents through a public spectacle of his own making,” Vashi added. “Let’s be clear: this is the same playbook Max Miller has run before — deny, deflect, and drag his accusers through the mud.”
Trump extends Jones Act waiver for 90 days
The Trump administration has extended for 90 days a waiver allowing foreign-flagged ships carrying oil and gas to travel between US ports, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a post on social media.
The waiver extension, which will take effect on 17 August, applies to the Jones Act, a law passed in 1920 that requires shipping between ports in the US to be conducted under US ships.
Rogers said the extension was granted to “ensure our military and key industries maintain uninterrupted access to critical resources”.
“Data shows the waiver has driven a significant increase in domestic deliveries of essential products such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel,” Rogers wrote.
New limits were imposed after shipbuilders and members in Congress argued the policy was undermining the domestic maritime industry. Now, the waiver will only apply to cargo that are sources of energy and commodities related to agriculture, per the AP.
The waiver comes as the strait of Hormuz, a primary waterway for shipping oil and natural gas, remains effectively closed because of the war.
Ironworker Brian Poindexter, a Democrat challenging the embattled congressman Max Miller in Ohio, said that his opponent “should be in prison, not in Congress” if the allegations of domestic abuse are true.
“It’s unfortunate that Miller has chosen to keep putting his ex-wife and her family through this nightmare in the public spotlight,” Poindexter said in a statement.
“But let me be perfectly clear. I got into this campaign to fight for my neighbors and for working people across this district,” he added. “That continues to be my north star. Our campaign’s doors are wide open to anyone – Democrat, Republican, or anything in between – who believes their representative should serve with honor and work for Ohioans, not for special interests and not for themselves. In November, we will win this race, and the people of the 7th District will finally have a representative who fights for them.”
‘We have the ability’ to escalate actions against Iran, says Donald Trump
Speaking to reporters earlier, Donald Trump said that the US retains the full capability to escalate actions against Iran if it chooses to do so.
“We have certainly that ability if we want to do that,” Trump said. “You’ll find out.”
Echoing remarks he wrote in a Truth Social post, Trump said Iran should pay for “the damage they’ve done over a 50-year period” instead of the US paying for the damage caused by the bombardment in Iran over the past five months.
“They ask for money for the damage that we’ve done. I said: ‘that’s a good idea. Well, we’re going to ask for money for the damage they’ve done over a 50-year period’,” he said. “If there’s damages to be paid, I think Iran should pay those damages.”
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump signed an executive order today that will involve splitting up the highly effective measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three single shots. The president also announced an overhaul to the childhood immunization schedule, scrapping recommendations for the hepatitis b, Covid-19 and influenza vaccines. He also suggested that the number of inoculations is linked to the rate of autism in the US, despite no proven link between the two.
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Todd Blanche was officially sworn in as the new attorney general. Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, was narrowly confirmed in the role by the Senate. Every Democrat rejected Blanche’s nomination.
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Lawyers for David Hearn, the Olympian who was arrested for alleged property destruction of the reflecting pool before his charges were dropped, said that the Trump administration is “continuing to attack an innocent man”. This comes after Donald Trump said that Hearn was still guilty on Truth Social this weekend, despite the justice department dismissing all charges against him, and citing the “botched” renovation of the pool as the reason for the peeling lining.
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Trump also said today that he is “demanding compensation from Iran” in future talks. This comes after Tehran tied compensation for the damage caused by the war launched by the US and Israel at the end of February to the reopening of the strategic strait of Hormuz. Trump said the matter of compensation “was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings”, but Tehran has been demanding war damages from Washington since the early weeks of the war. Later he said that Iran should be responsible for “the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza”.
Fact check: European countries do not have mandatory vaccine requirements
The Trump administration has repeatedly pointed to Europe as a model – arguing that EU countries do not require childhood vaccinations.
In reality, 12 EU nations mandate certain vaccines for children.
France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia all require the measles vaccination for infants, for example.
As my colleague Melody Schreiber notes, while Trump’s latest order requires clinicians to offer three separate shots to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, there are actually no separately licensed vaccines for the diseases, and the licensing process takes years.
A reminder that the changes recommended to the childhood vaccine schedule were first suggested by the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) earlier this year. However, they were blocked by a federal judge.
We can expect that these latest attempts overhaul the immunization schedule will be met by further legal challenges.
Trump signing executive order to split up MMR vaccines, scraps recommendations for hepatitis B, Covid-19 and influenza shots
In the Oval Office, Donald Trump has signed an executive order – that we flagged earlier – which would split up the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines.
“You should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than giving them all in the same day,” the president said.
He added that his administration would no longer recommend hepatitis b, Covid-19 and influenza shots for children.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much healthy, and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to much closer to where it was,” Trump said, despite the fact that there is no proven link between inoculations and an increased risk of autism.
Earlier, we reported that Trump is “demanding compensation from Iran”, tied compensation for the damage caused by the war launched by the US and Israel.
In a follow-up post on Truth Social, the president said that Tehran should be responsible for “the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza”.
