On Wednesday, August 12th, 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning against President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to overhaul child vaccination policies in the United States. Trump signed an order on Monday, August 10th, advocating for a reconsideration of school vaccine mandates and calling for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be administered as three separate shots rather than a combined vaccine.
Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who founded an anti-vaccine group, has long promoted a disproved link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded by emphasizing that the scientific evidence is "unequivocal: vaccines – including the MMR vaccine – are safe and do not cause autism." He further stated in a social media post that "vaccination policy should be guided by rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science, not by political influence."
Tedros expressed concern that the recent changes to US immunization policy are not aligned with decades of evidence indicating the periods when children are most vulnerable to disease.
The WHO’s warning highlights the tension between political decisions in the US and established global health guidance based on scientific research.
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