The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reaffirmed that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe, rejecting suggestions that childhood immunisation schedules should be delayed or MMR doses split into separate shots.
The global health body said delaying vaccines or unnecessarily separating doses leaves children exposed to preventable diseases and runs contrary to decades of scientific evidence on childhood immunisation.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, made the remarks in a statement shared on his official X account on Wednesday, stressing that vaccines remain among the most effective tools for protecting children against deadly diseases.
Ghebreyesus expressed concern over recent changes to United States immunisation policy, saying they were not aligned with decades of scientific evidence on when children are most vulnerable to diseases, when vaccines offer the strongest protection, the number of doses required and which vaccines can safely be administered together.
According to him, the evidence is continuously reviewed as new data emerge globally.
“The current evidence is unequivocal: vaccines – including the MMR vaccine – are safe and do not cause autism. Delaying vaccines or separating doses unnecessarily does not make vaccination safer and can leave children unprotected,” he said.
The WHO’s response followed an executive order signed by United States President Donald Trump on Monday, calling for a review of school vaccine mandates and renewing calls for the MMR vaccine to be administered as three separate shots.
The order also advocates reducing the number of childhood vaccines, with Trump arguing that children were healthier before the current immunisation schedule.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly questioned the safety of the MMR vaccine, although multiple studies have found no link between the vaccine and autism.
However, Ghebreyesus said global evidence and recommendations, including those from the WHO, guide national experts in developing vaccination schedules based on local disease patterns, health systems and population needs.
“Global evidence and recommendations, including from @WHO, inform national experts, who consider local disease patterns, health systems and population needs, to determine which vaccines and schedules are best for their country,” he said.
He added that vaccination policies should be based on “rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science,” rather than political influence.
“Vaccination policy should be guided by rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science, not by political influence,” Ghebreyesus stressed.
(The Whistler)
