1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month, calling on states to reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccinations and to separate the combined measles, mumps, and rubella shot.
Because states — not the federal government — have the authority to set individual vaccination mandates for schoolchildren, Pennsylvania has chosen to maintain its current immunization guidelines. According to Penn experts, the state made the right call.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told the Philadelphia Inquirer in August that Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are “ignoring decades of science, sowing chaos and confusion, and spreading dangerous misinformation that put kids and families at risk.”
He also added that his administration will continue to give Pennsylvanians guidance “based on science and facts.”
Trump’s new guidelines — according to School of Nursing professor of Family and Community Health Melanie Kornides — put those unable to get vaccinated at higher risk for contracting measles or chickenpox, which could lead to increased outbreaks of communicable diseases.
“You don’t want to see kids getting sick or people dying” because of policies that lead to people not vaccinating or “reinforcing information that's not accurate,” she added.
Last week, Pennsylvania reported two measles-associated deaths — the state’s first in three decades.
Kennedy has continued to clash with Pennsylvania over the cause of the fatalities, which he maintains the Shapiro administration “fabricated.”
RELATED:
Penn Health System sees annual profits jump to $337 million in FY26
Penn Med, state officials host information session on women’s health resources
“I don’t trust the CDC right now,” Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine Professor of Vaccinology Paul Offit said.
Kornides similarly criticized the federal agency for firing the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replacing them with “more political appointees rather than scientific.”
Offit added that while most medical experts are not following the Trump administration's recommendations, remarks from the White House contribute to a broader increase of distrust and misinformation surrounding vaccines.
“Do I think it's the goal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make vaccines less available, less affordable, and more feared? Yes,” he said. “I think he's been amazingly successful.”
Offit — who Trump called a “buffoon” — was also critical of the number of remarks the President has made linking autism to vaccine use.
“All that proved was that the MMR vaccine didn't prevent autism,” Offit explained. “You are no more likely to have autism if you got that vaccine than if you didn't,” Offit said.
Both Offit and Kornides were also dubious that the federal government would successfully separate the MMR vaccine, because the United States does not currently manufacture them as separate shots.
“Combining vaccines doesn't make it harder for your immune system — it actually does a better job of training the immune system to recognize these illnesses and prevent infection,” Kornides explained.
Now, according to Offit, pediatricians and other experts are turning to alternative professional medical associations — like the American Academy of Pediatrics. Last year, Pennsylvania changed its policy to allow pharmacists to dispense vaccines based on recommendations from organizations such as the AAP.
RELATED:
Penn Health System sees annual profits jump to $337 million in FY26
Penn Med, state officials host information session on women’s health resources
Staff reporter Sameeksha Panda covers science and health and can be reached at panda@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies chemistry.
