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Health officials in California are defending the traditional childhood vaccination schedule against efforts by the Trump administration to weaken it.<\/p>\n
The longstanding childhood vaccine schedule is safe, California\u2019s top health official said, and continues to be recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics \u2014 the nation\u2019s leading group for pediatricians \u2014 as well as the other states in the West Coast Health Alliance: Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re safe. They\u2019re important for kids to be thriving and healthy in schools,\u201d Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health and the state public health officer, said of vaccines. And she credited California\u2019s robust vaccine requirements as a condition of enrollment for schoolchildren as a reason why the state so far has kept a lid on the huge outbreaks of measles seen in other parts of the nation.<\/p>\n
Her full-throated defense comes after President Trump issued an executive order Monday recommending that the singular measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine should be separated into three and that all childhood immunizations should be given at separate visits \u201cto the maximum extent feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest obstacles to President Trump\u2019s order on vaccines may be the logistical challenges it poses for parents, health providers and drugmakers in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want it in three separate vaccinations, given at separate times,\u201d he said during the signing ceremony. \u201cTogether, there could be a possibility they\u2019re quite lethal. And separately it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Academy of Pediatrics blasted the order as \u201cunscientific and dangerous,\u201d and criticized comments made by administration officials suggesting a link between autism and vaccines \u2014 a claim that has been discredited by many studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families,\u201d said the academy\u2019s president, Dr. Andrew Racine.<\/p>\n
The Infectious Diseases Society of America has been equally unequivocal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MMR vaccine does not cause autism,\u201d the group says on an online fact page, adding that the measles vaccine prevents thousands of deaths a year worldwide.<\/p>\n
The CDC removed its own research into the safety of vaccines and replaced it with inaccurate statements.<\/p>\n
Pan said Trump\u2019s executive order does not change vaccine requirements for schoolchildren in California. And insurance companies continue to cover vaccinations for schoolchildren.<\/p>\n
When Trump was asked whether there was any evidence for his claims regarding the MMR vaccine, he answered: \u201cNo. What I\u2019ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way, and I say, \u2018Well, let\u2019s say there\u2019s a 5% chance of it. Let\u2019s split it up.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n