LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A new executive order from President Trump calls for a new approach to childhood vaccines. It recommends splitting the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella into separate shots. Doctors currently recommend the single shot. The Department of Health and Human Services put out recommendations earlier this year to scale back childhood vaccines. They were blocked by a federal judge. To get a medical perspective, we're joined by Dr. James Campbell. He's the interim head of pediatric infectious disease at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Good morning, and thanks for being on the program.
JAMES CAMPBELL: Good morning, Leila. Thank you.
FADEL: Now, the president suggested that the MMR shot could be lethal. Is that true?
CAMPBELL: It's absolutely false. There's no evidence of lethality from MMR - the vaccine. But of course, all of those diseases that it protects against can be lethal - measles, mumps and then congenital rubella. So, you know, stating that the vaccine itself might be lethal, meaning could kill children, and even stating that it might be 5% - think about that. One in 20 children. That's multiple children per hour who would have to die to have 5% lethality. It's not a lethal vaccine. It's a protective, safe vaccine.
FADEL: Are there even separate vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella?
CAMPBELL: No. Not in the United States. The only vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella are two different versions, really, of just MMR and then one version of MMR plus V, which stands for varicella, or chickenpox. There are no - what we call - monovalent or individual vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, so it would be impossible to follow the order. It gives parents - really, you know, there is no choice between using a combination vaccine and single vaccines.
FADEL: And the - so then how would this even work? I mean, first of all, is there a difference in efficacy if you were to get these separate shots versus getting the one shot?
CAMPBELL: No. The - way back when the vaccines were first being developed - this is way back in the 1960s. Those three vaccines - they were shown to make good immune responses, to be safe and to be protective, and then they were combined. And since 1971, we've had them in the United States only as combined vaccine. And also, that's what other high-income, high-resource countries use as well - is MMR, not individual vaccines. So they work just as well when they are combined, and there's no difference in their safety or tolerability when they're combined.
FADEL: Now, the president's executive order doesn't mention the word autism, but he talks about it a lot and links autism to vaccines. What should parents know about vaccines and autism?
CAMPBELL: So when the concern about vaccines and autism was first raised, we took it seriously. And many, many studies now have been done - dozens of studies - to show that there's absolutely no link between vaccines and autism. So we just need to stop discussing this topic and move on to help families with children with autism by looking down other avenues of, one, how to help them and, two, what the causes are.
FADEL: Most vaccines are a fraction of a teaspoon in volume. During the signing ceremony this week, Trump, though, claimed that doctors inject young children with, quote, "vats" of a vaccine. What's your reaction to the president's statement?
CAMPBELL: It's just sowing chaos. You know, people just become very - don't understand - and confused parents and families. So just - it's a way of sort of fear-mongering about vaccines. Vaccines have, you know, really changed the public health, the lives of children and their communities over the last, you know, decades and even about a century. So yeah. I think it - that is really going to lead to a lot of fear in parents.
FADEL: Dr. James Campbell sits on the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Thank you for your time and your medical expertise.
CAMPBELL: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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