A child is prepped to receive an MMR vaccine at Lurie Children's Primary Care in Chicago.
Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Getty Images
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President Trump signed an executive order Monday related to childhood vaccines in an Oval Office ceremony, flanked by top health officials and a conservative commentator who talked about her child and her current pregnancy. Those attendees called the move "historic" and "a big deal."
But what's different today when it comes to childhood vaccine policy in the U.S.? Not much. There's no new research, no new vaccines available and no immediate change to insurance coverage or school requirements.
And so far, pediatrician Dr. Jennifer Shu in Atlanta says parents in her practice aren't asking her about what the executive order means for their kids.
"At the very beginning, when the administration started making changes, people were concerned about — gosh, are we no longer going to have access to certain vaccines?," she says. "But I'm not hearing that anymore."
She says since some of the biggest swings from the White House – including an effort to reduce the number of federally-recommended vaccines for children – were blocked by courts and never took effect, "I'm feeling like a lot of parents are kind of wanting to see what the final result is before they get too concerned."
Still, the potential for confusion is real, she says. Here are the answers to five questions parents might be having about the executive order.
"Yes — as of right now, yes," Shu says. All of the shots in the childhood vaccine schedule backed by pediatricians are still available.
The Trump administration has tried — first through a panel of hand-picked advisors and then unilaterally — to change the list and timing of these vaccines, but has not been successful so far. The new executive order calls for certain things to be researched and reports to be written, but it makes no immediate changes.
All of that highlights the limits of the federal government in this area, says Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of the Global and Public Health Policy Program at the nonpartisan health research organization KFF.
"It's up to states and individual parents," she says. "States are going to make these decisions about school entry and then parents can make their own decisions about timing." In fact, she explains, "in all states but five, parents can opt out of vaccines or they can get a nonmedical exemption.
"So parents actually have quite a bit of choice already, and nothing about this will diminish or expand their choice," she adds.
No, health insurance coverage is unchanged for all vaccines in the American Academy of Pediatrics' vaccine schedule. Nearly all families can receive vaccinations with no copays, including families without health insurance.
In a statement from May, AHIP, the trade association that represents health insurance companies, said that health plans would cover vaccines recommended by the CDC through the end of 2027.
It's not entirely clear why this executive order is being rolled out now, especially so close to the November midterms elections, since some Republican pollsters have warned vaccine changes are politically hazardous. The timing also intersects with the beginning of the school year.
