WHO defends immunisation schedules after Trump orders fewer childhood shots

GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) defended on Aug 11 the science-based process used to determine childhood immunisation schedules after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccinations in the US.

On Aug 10, Trump signed an executive order calling for a reduced childhood vaccination schedule of 11 immunisations.

He said the move would provide US children with “gold-standard” protection and align the US more closely with other developed countries that recommend fewer shots.

Vaccine experts say that other developed countries that may recommend fewer shots face different disease risks and have different healthcare systems.

The order advances a longstanding objective of US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has questioned vaccine safety and promoted claims linking vaccines to autism even though scientific studies and the public health authorities have found no evidence of a link.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva that vaccination recommendations were based on more than 60 years of research by the WHO, the national authorities and independent expert groups.

The timing of individual vaccines was determined through extensive scientific review of when people were most vulnerable to particular diseases and the development of the immune system, Jasarevic said.

He said countries typically relied on national immunisation technical advisory groups made up of multidisciplinary experts who provided independent, evidence-based recommendations to governments and vaccination programme managers.

Those groups, he said, draw on guidance from the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) when establishing national schedules.

“What comes out from WHO is science-based,” Jasarevic said. “We hope that all countries will use this best scientific evidence that we have.”

Trump’s executive order has drawn criticism from medical associations, public health experts and vaccine manufacturers, who say there is no new scientific evidence to justify the changes, and that the existing US schedule reflects decades of evidence and the specific health needs of Americans, rejecting the comparison to other countries.

Physicians have warned that reducing the number of recommended vaccinations could leave more children vulnerable to preventable diseases and create confusion among parents about when children should be immunised.

The Trump order also recommends separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three individual injections.

Vaccine maker Merck has said there is no published scientific evidence showing a benefit from splitting the shot, and warned that requiring separate visits could increase the risk of delayed or missed vaccinations. REUTERS