The World Health Organization has issued a sharp rebuke of the United States' new childhood immunisation agenda, with Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the policy stands at odds with the scientific consensus built up over decades. Tedros accused President Donald Trump of disregarding longstanding evidence by pushing changes to vaccine guidance, stressing that immunisations including the MMR shot are safe and do not cause autism.
The criticism follows Trump's executive order reducing recommended childhood vaccines and calling for the combined MMR dose to be split into separate injections. WHO chief scientist Kate O'Brien said the US approach was moving in exactly the wrong direction. The dispute lands as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long advanced a discredited MMR-autism link, has overhauled the childhood immunisation schedule and cut funding for new vaccine development.