Trump signs executive order for fewer childhood vaccinations

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order

calling for fewer childhood vaccinations by limiting the inoculation schedule

to 11 immunisations.

He said that would give US children "gold-standard" protection

and align the country

with peer nations that recommend fewer shots.

DONALD TRUMP\US President

Effective immediately, my administration is recognising gold standard

childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against

the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR,

which hopefully will be split up.

You have the MMR, we want it in three separate vaccinations,

given at separate times. Together there could be a possibility

that they are quite lethal and separately it looks like they are not

at all lethal but just every effective.

Trump's executive order to revamp childhood vaccine recommendations

promotes his long-held belief that childhood shots should be spaced out

into separate medical visits.

But says it's still up to parents as to what they want to do.

"Parents can still choose to give their children all of the vaccinations if they wish.

It's up to the parents, we are making recommendations that is strong,

but it's up the parents if they wish, and they will be covered by insurance."

Trump went on to link vaccines to the increase in autism.

"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."

However, scientists have long concluded there is no link between the

number or timing of vaccines to autism.

Dr Andrew Racine President of the American Academy of Pediatrics said

"The potential link between vaccines and autism has been studied

in over 40 well-designed, methodologically well-designed studies

in over seven countries involving over 5 million children.

I'm not sure that there is anything that has been as thoroughly looked at

as this question about whether or not there is a link between autism and vaccines,

and the answer is unequivocally no. There is no such link."