Trump Demands Drugmakers Split Child Vaccines Into Five
Trump Demands Drugmakers Split Child Vaccines Into Five
The News
President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration will demand vaccine makers break certain childhood immunizations into five separate shots, arguing the change will produce a large reduction in autism.
Each shot would carry a "small amount of the vaccine" — what Trump described as a 20% dose — and the five doses would be spaced six months apart, he said.
Vaccine experts told CNN the plan would not work. Trump did not say which vaccines the administration intends to split.
The Plan, As Described
Five shots instead of one. Twenty percent potency each. Six months between doses. That is the whole of what Trump laid out publicly.
Timeline
An executive order cut the list of recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11, according to the reporting in this story.
A prior executive order directed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to negotiate splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate shots.
Trump says he is "demanding" that pharmaceutical companies reduce the potency of their vaccines and split some childhood immunizations into five doses, tying the move to autism.
Reactions
Vaccine experts quoted by CNN said splitting routine immunizations into five weaker doses six months apart would not achieve the same protection — CNN's account of the plan carries the blunt verdict that it "won't work."
Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of the MMR vaccines used in the United States, have previously resisted proposals that would require more doctor visits to reach the same immunity.
Coverage of the announcement split on framing: Reuters and the Washington Examiner reported Trump's demand and his autism claim largely as he made it, while CNN led with the experts' rejection of the science behind it.
The claim that vaccines cause autism is not supported by scientific evidence.
What's Next
The key unanswered question is which vaccines the administration is targeting. The Washington Examiner said it contacted the White House for clarification and reported no response.
Also unresolved: whether drugmakers comply, negotiate or refuse — and what regulatory or legal mechanism the administration would use to force the change on manufacturers.
More
Trump's demand lands on top of an already reshaped federal vaccine schedule. The August executive order shrank the recommended childhood list, and Kennedy was separately tasked with pressing for a three-shot MMR split before Friday's five-dose demand.
Poll
Should drugmakers be required to split childhood vaccines into five smaller doses?
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