President Donald Trump has announced a major change to the US childhood vaccination policy, saying vaccines for hepatitis B, COVID-19 and influenza will no longer be universally recommended for all children
under the revised federal framework. The move came through an executive order signed on August 10, which seeks to narrow the list of vaccines considered routine for every child and give parents and doctors more flexibility in deciding when some vaccines should be given.
The order is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to overhaul America’s childhood immunisation schedule. Under the new approach, the federal government is moving towards 11 core childhood vaccines, while vaccines including hepatitis B and influenza are being shifted away from universal recommendations towards approaches based on individual risk or shared decision-making between doctors and families.
Trump’s order also calls for changes to how vaccines are administered, including breaking up the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots and spacing them across different visits. The administration says the changes are intended to give parents greater choice and bring US recommendations closer to those of other developed countries.
Internet Reacts To Trump’s Move
The announcement has triggered a fierce online debate. One commenter sarcastically wrote, “BREAKING: I have personally solved the vaccine crisis,” before mocking the administration’s approach: “If your child needs a vaccine, ask your doctor. If your doctor disagrees with me, we’ll simply find a better doctor.” Another summed up the criticism more bluntly: “Absurd. Politically driven health policy is very dangerous.”
Others questioned whether the policy could weaken protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. “Make American Children Dead Again. That is Trump’s plan. Prove me wrong,” one commenter wrote. Another highlighted the hepatitis B issue, arguing that transmission from an infected mother to a newborn “carries a high risk of chronic infection” and that preventing such transmission remains an important reason for newborn vaccination. Another user simply wrote, “Yeah… I’m gonna continue listening to the real doctors and not a single person in this administration.”
NEW: Trump announces vaccines for hepatitis B, COVID-19 and influenza, among others, will no longer be recommended for all children.
“In addition, this executive order directs the attorney general to advance legal challenges against states that violate children’s rights to… pic.twitter.com/FcMWlxK62y
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 10, 2026
But the reaction was far from one-sided. Some commenters welcomed the change and argued that parents should have more control over vaccination decisions. “You know what? I kinda like the idea. Let’s finally settle the vaccine debate once and for all. MAGA says vaccines are the problem. Science says otherwise. President Trump is about to give MAGA the opportunity to test its own theory,” one person wrote, while another said “HepB should never have been something that babies were “mandated” to get. If the mother has HepB, then yes the child should receive the vaccine. But there is no reason for a child to receive that vaccine if the mother doesn’t have it.”
Medical groups have strongly criticised the move. The American Academy of Pediatrics said the executive order was not supported by new scientific evidence and warned that changing or delaying childhood vaccinations could increase risks, particularly as the US continues to deal with measles outbreaks.
