Trump Vaccine Order Faces Legal and Practical Limits, Experts Say

President Donald Trump's executive order calling for changes to the U.S. childhood vaccination schedule is not legally binding on pharmaceutical companies or state governments and may have limited practical effect, according to public-health experts, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

President Donald Trump's executive order calls for changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, including separating combination vaccines such as MMR.

The order calls for pharmaceutical companies to develop individual vaccines rather than combination shots and to space some vaccinations farther apart. However, neither the White House nor the Food and Drug Administration can compel drugmakers to develop and seek approval for specific vaccines.

From a business perspective, companies may also have little incentive to develop individual versions of vaccines that are already available in combination products.

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine researcher at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a former government adviser, said companies would effectively be competing against their own existing products.

The executive order also calls for additional federal research and recommendations.

However, states retain the authority to establish vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.

The order asks states to consider changes consistent with the administration's approach but does not itself impose new state vaccination requirements.

Federal officials were instructed to develop plans within 90 days for separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into individual shots and spacing out other childhood vaccinations.

Implementing such changes could take years and require drugmakers to conduct additional studies and establish new manufacturing capacity.