Should the meals, mumps, rubella vaccines be separate? Myths vs facts

President Trump once again repeated the claim that vaccines, particularly the combined MMR vaccine, are linked to an increased risk of autism, despite many decades of research finding absolutely no evidence for this.

The link was first purported in a 1998 study which has since been retracted as it was found to be based on fake, fraudulent data from just 12 children.

Many studies since have found absolutely no evidence of an association between MMR and autism, but misinformation lingers and has contributed to a drop off in uptake of the vaccines and a huge rise in cases of these preventable infections.

Further evidence against a link continues to accumulate. A study just published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, which followed 2,560,035 US children from birth to 8 years old, and controlled for bias, found “no association between MMR vaccination before 24 months and childhood autism.”

“The false connection between vaccines and autism has been a decades-long misinformation assault on families. Pediatric providers are experts at discussing this with parents — we do it each and every day. It honestly leaves us flabbergasted that politicians are deliberately spreading misinformation and ignoring decades of research that has proven repeatedly that there is no link. The false narrative serves no purpose but to fearmonger and put children at increased risk of vaccine-preventable infections.”

– Jennifer M. Walsh, DNP, CPNP-PC, CNE

Several other experts have made their views clear. In a reaction shared with the Science Media Centre, David Salisbury, FMedSci, Associate Fellow in the Program for Global Health at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, in the UK was forthright.

“There is not a shred of evidence that the provision of single vaccines would prevent autism,” Salisbury said. “There is a wealth of evidence that has failed to find a link between vaccines, especially MMR, and autism.”

“When Wakefield (author of the retracted study claiming a link) demanded the provision of single vaccines in the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the manufacturers made it clear that they would not provide them, not least because they were no longer licensed,” he pointed out.

“Twenty-five years later, the situation in the US is the same. Single vaccines are not licensed,” Salisbury emphasized, expressing surprise that the President did not appear to be aware of this.

The executive order also stated that hepatitis B, COVID-19, and influenza vaccinations were no longer recommended for all children, falling into the “shared clinical decision-making” category, a move that Walsh said had “absolute risks.”

“Hepatitis B is a preventable infection that can cause liver disease, cancer, and liver failure. Since the routine recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination starting at birth, we have seen millions of children protected against chronic infection and cancer,” she explained.

“Yearly flu vaccination, starting at 6 months of age, has proven to significantly decrease outpatient visits, ER visits, hospitalizations, and even death in children. COVID vaccination is recommended for all children ages 6–23 months, as well as any children with underlying health issues, due to their increased risk of complications.”

And Sir Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and Ashall Professor of Infection and Immunity, Pandemic Sciences Institute and Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, UK told the Science Media Centre:

“The US administration’s decision to reduce the number of vaccines recommended for children, deprioritising jabs with a proven track record of effectiveness against serious diseases, and questioning the proven safety of vaccines in the process, undermines public confidence in the cornerstone of child health in the country.”

“Changes in vaccination programs can be appropriate when disease risk changes or new evidence emerges, but such changes should be driven by scientific evidence developed by individuals with the necessary expertise and not by whim, because the lives of children are at stake,” Pollard continued.

Speaking to MNTJagdish Khubchandani, PhD, a Professor of Public Health at New Mexico State University, reiterated that “separate meals, mumps, or rubella vaccines are currently unavailable in the US and may need testing or FDA approval when they have to be made available.”

“Further, many practitioners may see this as a burden to invite parents/children to the office three times instead of one — eg, scheduling issues, timing, transportation, etc,” Khubchandani pointed out.

“In practice, the executive order may not change much, and the CDC vaccination schedule has not changed either,” he told MNT. “Even if approved, the proposed changes could take months to years.”

Despite some states having already changed school entry requirements, which “leaves their population at increased risk of disease and death,” Walsh reassured that many states will continue to follow medical evidence on childhood vaccinations.

“In the US, childhood vaccination recommendations are provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics. States can determine which vaccinations may be required for school entry. Many states have already insisted that they will continue to follow the AAP recommendations, since those are based on scientific evidence,” she told us.

“In the meantime, parents should continue seeking guidance from their child’s doctor and avoid paying attention to all the buzz around this topic. Nothing has changed or will change, at least for the rest of this year.”

–Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD