WHO Warns Trump’s Vaccine Overhaul Ignores Decades Of Scientific Evidence 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that US President Donald Trump’s efforts to overhaul childhood vaccination policy in the United States are inconsistent with decades of scientific evidence.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued the warning on Wednesday after Trump signed an executive order calling for a review of school vaccine mandates and renewed his push for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be administered as three separate shots.

Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has for years promoted claims linking vaccines to autism, despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting such an association. Kennedy also founded an anti-vaccine advocacy group before taking office.

Tedros, however, said scientific evidence on the safety of vaccines was clear.

“The science is unequivocal: vaccines — including the MMR vaccine — are safe and do not cause autism,” he said in a post on X.

The WHO chief urged governments to base vaccination policies on scientific evidence rather than political considerations.

“Vaccination policy should be guided by rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science, not by political influence,” he said.

Tedros said the UN health agency was concerned that recent changes to US immunisation policy were not consistent with decades of evidence on vaccination.

He explained that scientific evidence determines the vaccines children should receive, the number of doses required and which vaccines can safely be administered together.

According to him, such evidence is continuously reviewed and updated as new data emerge from around the world.

Tedros also cautioned against delaying childhood vaccinations or unnecessarily separating vaccine doses, saying such measures could leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases.

“Delaying vaccines or separating doses unnecessarily does not make vaccination safer and can leave children unprotected,” he said.

The warning comes as the US grapples with its worst measles outbreak in about 35 years, with concerns that the return of children to school could accelerate the spread of infections.

Trump’s latest vaccine policy push has intensified debate over childhood immunisation in the US, particularly following his administration’s broader efforts to review established vaccination guidelines.

The president also announced on his first day back in office in 2025 that the United States would withdraw from the WHO, ending a relationship that had lasted 77 years.

Although extensive medical research has found no causal link between vaccines and autism, vaccine sceptics, including Kennedy, have continued to question the established scientific consensus.

Since becoming Health Secretary, Kennedy has initiated a major review of vaccines, including those that have been used for decades, and made changes to the childhood vaccination schedule. His department has also reduced funding for the development of some new vaccines, measures that have drawn strong criticism from medical and scientific organisations.

Tedros sought to reassure parents amid the controversy, stressing the importance of immunisation in protecting children.

“Vaccines are among the most powerful tools” for keeping children safe and making deadly diseases preventable, he said.

Earlier this year, US courts temporarily blocked a shake-up of vaccination policy initiated under Kennedy.