Tune out Trump on reducing vaccines

President Donald Trump’s executive order on vaccinations muddles two simple, irrefutable facts: Childhood vaccines are safe and effective, and the existing vaccine schedule, developed by panels of scientific and medical experts, is appropriate.

The federal government can only suggest guidance on vaccines — each state has its own requirements and mandates. Trump’s effort would recommend just 11 immunizations for all children, rather than the current 17, removing key shots for diseases like highly contagious rotavirus, the flu and hepatitis from the list. He also seeks to split the trusted vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella, known as the MMR, into three separate shots.

But separate vaccines don’t exist in the United States. They’d have to be individually manufactured and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, a process that could take years. What’s more, that strategy makes no sense given Trump’s emphasis on reducing the number of vaccines; it would force children to get six shots at six different doctor’s visits, compared with the current two. It’s also not clear if insurance would cover the extra vaccines, or if parents would have to pay more.

Trump’s words, along with those from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and top aide Stephen Miller, are even more disturbing. Trump incorrectly said the MMR vaccines, when combined, came with “a possibility they’re quite lethal . . .” and suggested some vaccine syringe doses were “the size of a bottle of soda.” Miller, meanwhile, said “nobody has studied” the childhood vaccine schedule.

None of that is true.

Coming just weeks before school begins, as many families are visiting pediatricians for updated immunizations, Trump’s proposal and the accompanying commentary makes an already tricky time for some parents even more complicated. Parents deserve clear, definitive information from their doctors and from public health officials.

New York State’s Department of Health sets the state’s vaccine requirements. Its immediate response to Monday’s announcement was appropriate, as Health Commissioner James McDonald noted that the executive order won’t change the state’s recommendations or requirements.

“Here in New York, we will continue to be guided by the science,” he said.

Good. But that won’t be easy. Health officials will get pushback from those opposing vaccination and vaccine mandates, and other MAHA supporters. Doctors and scientists must stand firm, providing clear guidance and encouragement in the coming weeks and months.

Also worrisome is Trump’s move to have Attorney General Todd Blanche challenge state laws prohibiting the oft-misused religious exemptions to vaccination. New York’s 2019 ban on religious exemptions came during a measles epidemic. This year, as measles has raged, New York has seen far fewer cases because all schoolchildren must be vaccinated, unless there’s a confirmed medical reason not to. New York’s religious exemption ban is a public health necessity; state officials must do whatever it takes to maintain it.

Talk to your doctors. Get your questions answered. Vaccination is the best way to protect you, your children and all New Yorkers.