Trump order aims to cut number of diseases all children should be vaccinated against from 18 to 11

BREAKING NEWSAug. 10, 2026, 7:44 PM UTCKids' HealthKids' HealthTrump order aims to cut number of diseases all children should be vaccinated against from 18 to 11The order reaffirms the dramatic overhaul to the vaccine schedule that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this year. Those changes have been blocked in court.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks alongside President Donald Trump during a 2025 press conference at the White House.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Aria Bendix and Erika EdwardsPresident Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order that aims to reduce the number of universally recommended vaccines for children — a move that reaffirms the dramatic overhaul Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this year that has been blocked in the courts.Similar to that vaccine schedule change, the new order recommends that the list of diseases that all children should be vaccinated against drop from 18 to 11, according to a fact sheet obtained by NBC News. The other shots would be subject to so-called shared clinical decision-making between a parent and their child’s doctor.The proposed changes, in theory, do not prohibit access to childhood vaccines — rather, Kennedy said Monday that they are meant to give parents choices. The recommended childhood immunization schedule in the U.S. has never been mandatory.In his announcement, Trump drew a link between the vaccine changes the order recommends and concerns about rising rates of autism in the U.S., despite decades of research showing there is no link between autism and vaccines.“While we do not know exactly what the cause is with respect to autism, it is essential to our research efforts that we have the very best vaccine recommendations in the entire world, so we’re reducing them,” Trump said.Heidi Overton, deputy assistant to the president for domesti...