How Trump’s order on vaccines is sowing confusion, doubt and fear

The order cannot affect change, and is only ‘undermining trust in vaccines’ as CDC guidance remains the same Donald Trump’s executive order on vaccines does not change the US recommendations for the shots – but experts say it does create confusion and doubt about vaccines, which will lead to more illness and possibly deaths among children and will make it harder for families and pediatricians to protect them. The executive order was an attempt to reinstate sweeping changes to the vaccine schedule made earlier this year by Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine opponent – changes that were later halted by a federal judge. But an executive order can only offer guidance to agencies; it doesn’t change laws or set recommendations. The primary effect of the order has been “adding unnecessary confusion” and “undermining trust in vaccines without any change in the scientific evidence”, she said. But in the meantime, children suffer.

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