Trump Redoubles Effort To Shrink Recommended Vaccines Ahead Of Midterm Elections

President Donald Trump on Monday reignited his effort to overhaul the government’s vaccine recommendations with an executive order directing federal agencies to reduce the number of recommended vaccines children get and spread the shots out over more doctors appointments.

The move comes months ahead of the midterm elections on an issue that Trump’s own pollsters have warned is unpopular, but that the president has long shown a personal interest in. The president's endeavors have been thrown into high gear by his allegiance with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned vaccine safety for decades.

“Today we're proud to officially announce the United States of America's gold standard childhood vaccination recommendations,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday before he signed the order.

“Effective immediately, my administration is recognizing gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR, which hopefully will be split up,” Trump said.

There are two versions of the combined MMR vaccine currently available for use in the U.S. — but no individual shots on the market. It is unclear if or when vaccine makers would be able to market individual shots, a process that would likely require new Food and Drug Administration approvals.

It is also unclear how the overarching directive — which overlaps with past actions by the Trump administration that have run into legal challenges — will change the current vaccination recommendations.

Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California College of the Law at San Francisco, said the latest effort will likely face similar legal challenges.

“The president's familiarity with the administrative law is limited,” Reiss said. “The problem is that this isn't likely to hold up in court.”

This is a developing story.