‘It will decrease compliance’: UNMC expert weighs in on executive order on vaccines

OMAHA, Neb. —

While the Trump administration looks to alter the childhood vaccine schedule, a local expert from University of Nebraska-Medicine said that isn’t best for Americans.

“The current vaccine schedule is incredibly safe, and it is designed for the risks that our children and our citizens have here in the U.S.,” said Dr. Ann Anderson Berry, UNMC professor of pediatrics.

The president’s order would lower the number of vaccinations from 17 to 11 — a model that Anderson Berry said is more similar to other countries.

“We have a safe and effective vaccine that minimizes that risk and alleviates disease burden, not only for the individual but also for the community and the U.S. as a whole,” Anderson Berry said.

President Trump believes the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine should become three different single-disease injections rather than the one shot it currently is. The vaccination has been injected as a combination since 1971.

“Number one, splitting these three will not increase safety. Number two, it will decrease compliance,” Anderson Berry said. “Number three, it will require three pokes for infants.”

Anderson Berry said separating out those vaccines wouldn’t be possible for at least several years. The single-disease shots aren’t produced in the United States, and companies would have to develop a vaccination for each specific disease.

“They would have to get approval through the approval process for vaccines, and then they would have to bring those to a market, and then they would have to find a market,” Anderson Berry said. “I don’t know a single pediatrician that would recommend that at this point.”

The order also creates a tier system where only high-risk patients will be recommended certain vaccinations, like for meningococcal disease.

“This is a recommended vaccine for children and young adults in the United States because it has been proven safe, effective and to decrease the burden of disease,” Anderson Berry said.

The question still remains whether this order is required or if families can opt out of President Trump’s vaccination plan, but for now, Anderson Berry said things have not changed. Any questions about vaccinations should be directed to your pediatrician.