BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) As millions of Californians begin heading back to the classroom from summer vacation, President Trump has signed an executive order that reduces the number of vaccinations recommended for children under federal guidelines.
“Vaccinations for hepatitis B, COVID -19 and influenza among others are no longer recommended for all children,” Trump said.
In an early August Facebook post, the California Health and Human Services Agency urged families to stay focused on immunizations ahead of the school year, writing: “Parents and caregivers, make sure to add vaccines to the top of your back-to-school checklist. California’s school vaccine requirements have not changed…”
Trump also said, “Decades ago children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today and those time people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist.”
The executive order on childhood vaccines is a recommendation, not a change in federal law.
States still have the authority to set their own requirements.
At a press conference in Bakersfield on Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. was asked what the executive order means for families.
“The practicality is that the states will be getting the best medical and scientific advice that is available. Medically and scientifically available,” Kennedy said.
The developments come as two measles cases have been confirmed in Kern County this year, the first since 2004.
Kennedy said people have lost trust in regulatory agencies and have looked to other countries for vaccine recommendations.
“The president asked us to look at what other countries are doing where they don’t have mandates and yet they have enormous coverage. People trust their agencies and we wanted to make sure the public was getting the most scientific evidence,” Kennedy said.