Trump signs order calling for spacing out childhood vaccines, against medical groups’ guidance

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held but discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.

The order advocates separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different single-disease shots and administering all childhood immunizations at separate appointments whenever possible.

It also directs the nation's health department to improve research on vaccines, which are already extensively studied, and present a plan to offer separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children, since that is not currently an option in the United States.

The renewed focus on vaccines marks a departure from the Trump administration's recent efforts to emphasise less controversial health policies related to healthy eating, drug price negotiations and medical fraud crackdowns ahead of November's midterm elections.