President Donald Trump has announced plans to divide some childhood immunisations into five separate shots, administered as “20% doses” every six months.
Trump made the announcement at an Oval Office event, suggesting his administration could achieve this by calling directly on vaccine manufacturers to split up their shots.
The president framed the proposed changes as a way to ensure “a small amount of vaccine gets pumped into the body” at each stage of the schedule.
Trump claimed his proposed overhaul of the vaccine schedule would lead to a “massive reduction in autism,” a claim not supported by scientific evidence.
The link between vaccines and autism has been repeatedly debunked by medical organisations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, making Trump’s assertion highly controversial.
The announcement has drawn significant backlash from the medical community, which warned the proposed changes could undermine the effectiveness of established immunisation programmes.
Vaccine expert Paul Offit, M.D., told CNN that the proposed changes would render vaccines ineffective without making them any safer for children.
Trump did not specify which vaccines his administration was considering splitting, leaving vaccine makers and health authorities uncertain about the scope of the proposed changes.
The announcement is the latest in a series of moves aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, known as MAHA.
The wider context includes Kennedy’s overhaul of the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of outside experts that advises bodies including the CDC on vaccine policy.
Changes to the pediatric vaccine schedule were initially unveiled in January, signalling that the administration has been building toward a significant restructuring of childhood immunisation policy throughout 2026.
The moves represent an escalating tension between the current administration and mainstream medical bodies, with established science on vaccine safety and scheduling increasingly at odds with White House policy direction.