FACT FOCUS: Trump makes false claims as he signs order urging revisions around childhood vaccines

While issuing an executive order on Monday aimed at getting states to revise childhood vaccine recommendations, President Donald Trump and others in his administration repeated several false claims about those vaccines, as well as their relationship to autism.

The order recommends separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate single-disease shots and administering childhood vaccines at separate appointments whenever possible.

But many public health experts expressed concern about the recommendations, saying that spacing out the shots could increase the risk that children would become infected with a vaccine-preventable disease before returning for another visit. They noted that childhood vaccines and how they should be given have been rigorously studied around the world for decades, and continue to prove to be safe and effective at protecting children.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

TRUMP: “In many cases, we were requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children.”

THE FACTS: That’s misleading. In 2025, the government’s childhood vaccination schedule recommended routine protection against 18 diseases. How many separate injections that added up to between birth and age 18 varied. It depended on things like the brand used, the availability of combination shots and the child’s starting age. But unless you counted once-a-year flu vaccines (which some kids can get as a nasal spray) or COVID-19 shots, the number of injections was closer to three dozen.

Those shots have been proven to protect children from preventable and sometimes devastating diseases. Even so, vaccines were never “required,” as families could opt out. States do require children to get certain vaccines before enrolling in school, but the state lists of school shots were narrower than the federal vaccine schedule, and many states offer different types of exemptions.

The Trump administration in January cut the national vaccine recommendations to injections against 11 diseases, with additional vaccines now separately categorized for at-risk children or as available through “shared decision-making” with a doctor. This drops the total number of injections to about 23 if children receive only the recommended-for-all vaccinations on the administration’s new schedule.

TRUMP: “You have the MMR, we want it in three separate vaccinations given at separate times. Together there could be a possibility they are quite lethal and separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal but just very effective.”

THE FACTS: This is false. Doctors say, and years of real-world evidence prove, that the current combination MMR vaccine is both safe and effective at protecting children from illness. Common side effects are mild and include a sore arm from the shot, fever, mild rash and temporary pain and stiffness in the joints. Doctors point out that separate vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella are not available in the United States.

“I’m concerned about an unintended consequence of people under vaccinating because of fear that giving a single dose of the MMR is going to put their child at risk when there’s no evidence to suggest that’s the case,” said Dr. Aaron Milstone, pediatric director of infection prevention at Johns Hopkins Health System and a fellow with the American Academy of Pediatrics. “There are many, many, many years of scientific data highlighting the safety of vaccines in children.”

TRUMP: “Large amounts of vaccine, large amounts of like vats of vaccine are currently pumped into your child’s body.”

THE FACTS: This is false. Dr. Molly O’Shea, a Michigan pediatrician, said amounts vary slightly by vaccine, but doctors give less than 0.5 milliliters per vaccine -- usually 0.1 to 0.3 milliliters per vaccine. By comparison, a teaspoon is about 5 milliliters.

“It’s a teeny amount,” she said. “So there are no vats.”

Trump also said during the executive order signing: “I’ve seen proof of it. Where they have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body.” A typical plastic bottle of soda contains 500 milliliters, or about 2,500 times more than a typical vaccine.

TRUMP: “There’s nothing that we lose with this. The worst thing that would happen would be nothing happens. We’re not going to lose anything.”

THE FACTS: Public health experts have raised concerns that spacing out shots as Trump suggests can lead to an increased risk that children become infected with a vaccine-preventable disease before returning for another visit. Doctors say, and real world evidence proves, that vaccinations save millions of lives.

“Vaccines are among the most thoroughly studied, effective tools we have to protect children from serious vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Dr. Willie Underwood, president of the American Medical Association. “Altering a proven vaccination schedule without credible evidence risks weakening public confidence and putting children’s health at risk.”

Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said that “delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.”

Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but rates are now climbing as vaccination rates decline. The number of cases this year has already surpassed the record-breaking tally for all of 2025, which was the worst year for measles in more than three decades.

HEALTH SECRETARY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: “In 1970, the biggest epidemiological study at that time in history was performed. And the university scientists from across this country looked at all the 8-year-olds in Wisconsin, about 900,000 children, and they were looking for autism. And they knew what autism looked like. And they came back with an incidental rate of .8 per 10,000. So less than one in 10,000. The rate according to CDC today in this country is one in every 31 children.”

THE FACTS: It’s true that in the 20th century, only 1 in 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism —- the diagnosis was rare and given only to kids with severe problems communicating or socializing and those with unusual, repetitive behaviors. But the term became shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions known as ″autism spectrum disorders,” and the number of kids labeled as having some form of autism began to balloon.

Health officials have largely attributed growing autism numbers to better recognition of cases, through wide screening and better diagnosis. In April 2025, the CDC said the diagnosis rate was 1 in 31 children.

During the executive order signing, Kennedy and Trump suggested that childhood vaccines may play a role in causing autism. But studies by the CDC and others have ruled that out. A fraudulent single study that claimed a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was later retracted by the journal that published it.

There are no blood or biologic tests for autism; it is diagnosed by making judgments about a child’s behavior. Research has looked at a variety of other possible explanations, including genetics, the age of the father, the weight of the mother and chemicals in the environment.

“No environmental factor has been better-studied as a potential cause of autism than vaccines,” said Dr. Alycia Halladay, chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation. “That includes vaccine ingredients as well as the body’s response to the vaccines. All this research has determined that there is no link between autism and vaccines. This is consistent across multiple studies, repeated in different countries around the world, including those mentioned in today’s press conference.”

Last year, Kennedy promised to conduct exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause the developmental disorder. He said on Monday that his department will deliver research findings “as soon as they are ready.”

AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.

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