Recent Executive Order - Statement by Dr. Lee

President Trump signed an Executive Order on August 10 stating it was the “Gold Standard” for childhood vaccines. In this order, he recommended splitting the MMR vaccine into three different vaccines requiring at least four more doctor’s visits and four more shots. He added that the combined vaccine may be lethal. When questioned about data to confirm that, he had none. There is no evidence that the MMR vaccine is unsafe, and it provides immunity to all three diseases in one visit. Additionally, he recommends that only one shot be given at a time, which would require multiple visits and shots. He recommends against the routine vaccination against rotavirus, Hepatitis A, Meningococcal meningitis, RSV, influenza, and COVID 19.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that we continue with our current schedule of vaccines.  This is based on years of research and scientific studies indicating the safety of vaccines and the effectiveness of the current schedule. The AAP recognizes the importance of vaccines in preventing these harmful and even deadly diseases and is concerned about the lack of trust in medical providers this “Gold Standard” encourages. In addition, the AAP assures parents that giving more than one shot at a visit is safe and allows the completion of their child’s protection in a timely manner rather than asking them to come back multiple times for catch up vaccines. With parents’ work schedules and difficulty finding a time for a visit for a vaccine, the President’s recommendation will reduce the fully vaccinated rate and place our nation’s children at risk for these life-threatening infections.

The “Autism” issue keeps coming up in the president’s statements. The AAP has emphatically and repeatedly stated that vaccines, especially the MMR vaccine, do not cause autism. This has been studied in over 40 studies with millions of children, and vaccines do not cause autism. Combining vaccines, e.g. the MMR, the DTaP/Polio/Hib/HepB does not cause additional side effects or reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines. It does, however, allow your child to get two shots instead of seven shots for the same vaccines.

The vaccines recommended by the AAP are listed below with a description of the diseases they prevent.

RSV: respiratory syncytial virus, causes bronchiolitis, resulting in hospitalization in infants. In preterm infants and babies with heart or lung disease, RSV can be deadly.

DTaP: prevents diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) all which can be deadly.

Polio: prevents polio which can cause permanent paralysis.

Hib: Hemophilus influenza type B which causes meningitis, epiglottitis, severe swelling in the back of the throat that can cause death.

Pneumococcal vaccine: prevents pneumococcal meningitis, sepsis, and pneumonia all of which can be deadly.

Hep B: prevents hepatitis B which can cause chronic liver disease and even cancer if acquired in early childhood.

Hep A: prevents Hepatitis A, a highly infectious cause of hepatitis.

Varivax: prevents chickenpox, one of the most contagious infectious diseases that can lead to severe skin infections and even death.

MMR: prevents measles, mumps, and rubella. Measles can cause pneumonia, and encephalitis, mumps causes an infection in the salivary glands but can cause deafness and result in sterility in men, and rubella is especially dangerous in pregnant women causing severe birth defects in the fetus.

Rotavirus: prevents rotavirus in infants, a frequent cause of severe diarrhea and hospitalization. It is the only oral vaccine.

HPV: prevents human papilloma virus which causes cervical, genital, and oral cancers.

Meningococcal: prevents this life-threatening meningitis that can also result in loss of limbs. It starts at 15 years old because the illness is more common in late adolescence.

Influenza: helps prevent flu which is highly contagious.

COVID 19: prevents or reduces symptoms of Covid and saved millions of lives during the pandemic.

When I started my practice 50 years ago in 1976, only the MMR, DTaP and Polio vaccines were available. However, I did see many of the serious infections that are listed above, including several children with meningitis, several children who died from sepsis from now preventable infections, and dozens of babies every winter hospitalized with RSV and Rotavirus. The availability of this list of vaccines that can prevent these common infections that I frequently treated is a miracle of modern medicine and a gift from God. It is not the “Gold Standard” to deny our children the protections these vaccines provide. Please continue with the current schedule of vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Your child’s life may depend on it. If you have questions, please talk with your pediatrician. He or she can help you through this.