Trump to sign executive order calling for spacing out childhood shots

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday will sign an executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held belief that shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits, according to a White House fact sheet.

The order will recommend administering each vaccine in its own visit and separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different shots and direct the nation's health department to improve vaccine research, says the fact sheet, first reported by The Daily Caller. Separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children are not available in the U.S.

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.

Trump has long suspected that the number or timing of vaccines could play a role in autism spectrum disorder, even as scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link. Childhood vaccines — and how and when to give them in combination — go through rigorous studies, and safety tracking continues for years as the shots are used.

The news comes as school years are starting around the country and the nation contends with a measles outbreak that experts say could result in the U.S. losing its measles elimination status.