Doctors Who Helped Create Vaccines Say Trump's New Policy Is Dangerous

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that changes which vaccines are recommended for children in the United States. The order says that only a small number of vaccines should be given to kids. It also says that the measles, mumps, and rubella shot — known as the MMR vaccine — should be split into three separate shots instead of one. Many doctors and scientists say this new policy is not backed by science and could put children in danger.

One of the biggest concerns is about the rotavirus vaccine. Rotavirus is a germ that causes bad diarrhea and dehydration in babies and young children. It can be serious enough to land a child in the hospital. Under the new policy, parents can choose whether or not to give their child this vaccine. Doctors say this puts children at greater risk of getting very sick.

Dr. Stanley Plotkin helped create the rubella vaccine and worked on the rotavirus vaccine. He wrote a letter saying he was deeply troubled by these changes. He explained that when one child is not vaccinated, it also puts other children at risk. This is because germs can spread from person to person, and the larger a country's population, the faster diseases can move through it.

Dr. Plotkin also raised a bigger question about public health. He said that public health is built on the idea that we all have a responsibility to protect each other. Vaccine rules from groups like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, were made to slow the spread of germs and keep everyone as healthy as possible. He said that reversing these rules is a step backward that will hurt people of all ages.

Three other top doctors also spoke out against the executive order. They are the editors in chief of three major medical journals — JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Science. They said that decades of data clearly show that childhood vaccines are safe and work well. They also said there is no scientific proof that splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate doses is better or safer.

These doctors warned that vaccine hesitancy — when people are unsure or afraid of vaccines — has been growing. In the past two years, thousands of people in the U.S. have gotten measles, and some have died. Most of those people were not vaccinated. They also noted that paralytic polio, a disease that can cause permanent disability, came back to the United States in 2022 after being gone for decades. Experts say these are warning signs of what can happen when vaccination rates drop.

The doctors ended their statement with a strong warning. They said that the laws of nature cannot be changed by government orders. Diseases that made many children very sick in the past will come back if people stop getting vaccinated. They believe that following the science is the only way to protect children and keep communities safe.