The director of the acting CDC calls for “breaking” the vaccines of measles, mumps and rubella in three strokes
The acting director of the CDC, Jim O’Neill, called on Monday the manufacturers of vaccines to develop separate plans for measles, mumps and rubella instead of the current vaccine, which combines the three.
O’Neill wrote in an article on X that manufacturers should replace the Ror vaccine with “sure monovalent vaccines”, which target only one virus. His statement referred to a recent comment by President Donald Trump, who advised people last month on TRUTH Social to “break Ror’s shot in three completely separate shots”.
However, no monovalent vaccine for measles, mumps or rubella is approved in the United States, and centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that there is no published scientific evidence which shows an advantage to separate the combined vaccine. It is not clear if the change that O’Neill asks is possible or likely to occur.
The measles vaccine, mumps and rubella has been available in combination since 1971, in part to reduce the number of injections that children receive, since the three are administered at the same age.
Breaking the ROR vaccine, a two -dose diet in which the first shot is recommended from 12 to 15 months and the second at 4 to 6 years old, would mean that children would receive six injections instead of two.
We don’t know where Trump’s advice comes from. The White House is not responsible for the fixing of the recommendations for drug consumption vaccine.
During a White House event on September 22, the president expressed a preference for individual fire on combined fire while denouncing the number of vaccines that children receive, saying that “too many different things enter this baby to a large number.”
“The MMR, I think, should be taken separately,” said Trump. “This is based on what I feel. … It seems that when you mix them, there could be a problem. So there is no drawback to take them separately.”
Merck, the pharmaceutical company that has manufactured the ROR vaccine since 1971, said in a press release that the use of individual vaccines “increases the number of injections for the individual and can lead to delayed or missed vaccinations”.
At the same time, the company added: “The evidence suggests that the use of combined vaccines improves the results of infant vaccination, increasing both completion (reception of all recommended doses) and compliance rates (adapted to age).”
The United States has recorded more measles this year than in any other since 2000, when the country has eliminated the disease.
The Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who, in the past, founded an anti-vaccine group, has repeatedly made false complaints on measles vaccines, including that they were not “tested in terms of security” and that their protection is short-lived. However, Kennedy also said people should get vaccination.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services has already decided to limit access to a MMR combination and chickenpox vaccine for children. The CDC vaccine advisory committee recommended on September 18 against this vaccine against children under the age of 4. O’Neill, who is also secretary to health, signed the recommendation last week. (Most pediatricians already give young children the vaccine against chickenpox and the ROR vaccine separately.)
The committee’s recommendation was based on an increased risk of febrile crises (crises caused by fevers that tend to resolve quickly), which doctors have known for years. The combination of mmr and chickenpox vaccines can still be given to older children because there is no evidence of an increased risk of febrile crisis in this age group.
Trump told the White House event a few days later that it was “very happy” that chickenpox vaccines would be administered separately from MMR vaccines.
