Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill on Monday called on vaccine manufacturers to develop separate shots for measles, mumps and rubella instead of the current vaccine, which combines the three.
O’Neill wrote in a post on X that manufacturers should replace the MMR vaccine with “safe monovalent vaccines,” which only target one virus. His statement referenced a recent comment from President Donald Trump, who advised people last month on Truth Social to “break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots.”
However, no monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps or rubella are approved in the U.S., and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no published scientific evidence that shows a benefit to separating the combined vaccine. It is not clear whether the change O’Neill is calling for is possible or likely to come about.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said “standalone vaccinations can potentially reduce the risk of side effects and can maximize parental choice in childhood immunizations.” He did not offer evidence for his statement about side effects.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been available as a combination shot since 1971, in part to reduce the number of injections that children receive, given that the three are administered at the same ages.
Breaking up the MMR vaccine, a two-dose regimen in which the first shot is recommended at 12 to 15 months and the second at 4 to 6 years, would mean that children would receive six injections instead of two.
It’s unclear where Trump’s advice came from. The White House is not responsible for setting vaccine or drug use recommendations.
At a White House event on Sept. 22, the president expressed a preference for individual over combined shots while at the same time decrying the number of vaccines that kids receive, saying that “too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number.”
“The MMR, I think, should be taken separately,” Trump said. “This is based on what I feel. … It seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem. So there’s no downside in taking them separately.”
Merck, the pharmaceutical company that has manufactured the MMR vaccine since 1971, said in a statement that use of individual vaccines “increases the number of injections for the individual and may result in delayed or missed immunizations.”
At the same time, the company added, “evidence suggests that use of combination vaccines improves childhood vaccination outcomes, increasing both completion (receipt of all recommended doses) and compliance (age-appropriate administration) rates.”
The U.S. has recorded more measles cases this year than in any other since 2000, when the country eliminated the disease.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who in the past founded an anti-vaccine group, has repeatedly made false claims about measles vaccines, including that they haven’t been “safety tested” and that their protection is short-lived. However, Kennedy has also said that people should get the vaccination.
The Department of Health and Human Services has already moved to limit access to a combination MMR and chickenpox vaccine for children. The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee recommended on Sept. 18 against that vaccine for children under 4. O’Neill, who is also the deputy health secretary, signed off on the recommendation last week. (Most pediatricians already give young children the chickenpox vaccine and MMR vaccine separately.)
The committee’s recommendation was based on an increased risk of febrile seizures (seizures prompted by fevers that tend to resolve quickly), which doctors had known about for years. Combination MMR and chickenpox vaccines can still be given to older kids, since there is no evidence of an increased risk of febrile seizure in that age group.
Trump said at the White House event days later that he was “very happy” that chickenpox vaccines would be administered separately from MMR vaccines.
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