The World Health Organization (WHO) publicly defended the scientific process for determining children’s vaccination schedules on Tuesday, directly responding to recent political moves in the United States. This reaction followed US President Donald Trump signing an executive order on Monday aimed at drastically reducing the number of recommended vaccinations for American children.
The order calls for limiting the schedule to exactly 11 immunisations/doses, representing a significant deviation from current medical guidelines. Donald Trump justified his decision by stating that such a move would protect American children, claiming that the United States would thereby align with other developed countries that recommend fewer doses.
Vaccine experts warn that this comparison is misleading, as other developed nations face different disease risks and possess different healthcare systems from those in the US. Therefore, simply adopting their smaller schedules does not account for the specific epidemiological conditions in the US.
This executive order is closely linked to the objectives of US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has publicly questioned vaccine safety. Kennedy Jr. often links vaccines to the onset of autism, despite scientific studies and public health authorities finding no evidence of a correlation between the two factors.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic emphasised that vaccination recommendations are based on more than 60 years of WHO, national bodies, and independent expert group research. Jasarevic explained that the timing of vaccinations is determined by extensive scientific review, taking into account when people are most susceptible to specific diseases and the development of the immune system.
Countries typically rely on national technical advisory groups on immunisation, composed of multidisciplinary experts, to make decisions that align with global health standards.
