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Tengrinews.kz — On August 10, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order revising federal childhood vaccination guidelines. The number of infections for which vaccinations are recommended for all minors has been reduced from 18 to 11.
Tengrinews correspondent explored what else has changed in the American guidelines, how they differ from Kazakhstan's, and whether there are plans to revise the national immunization schedule in our country.
Under the new approach, the U.S. recommends vaccinating children under 18 against 11 infections:
The order removed vaccinations against the following infections from the routine schedule:
These vaccines are not being abandoned entirely. Instead, they are being reclassified from routine immunization to other categories. They will be administered based on individual risk and the decisions of doctors and parents.
Another change concerns the MMR combination vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella.
The order recommends that once appropriate products become available on the American market, the medical community should switch to separate vaccines for each of the three infections, administered during different clinical visits. Currently, a combination vaccine is used.
The presidential administration noted that the decision was made, in part, to give parents more flexibility in choosing the timing and frequency of vaccinations.
On August 10, leaders of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stated that the Trump administration's new order, which reduces the list of recommended vaccines and increases the intervals between them, is unscientific and dangerous.
According to Dr. Andrew D. Racine, MD, a member and official of the AAP, there is no new evidence to justify such significant changes to childhood vaccination guidelines.
He noted that the only result of this announcement could be a further surge in uncertainty, fear, and confusion where none should exist.
Experts believe that refusing vaccination based on these false claims will leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
For comment on the potential consequences of the U.S. decision, we contacted the National Center for Public Health (NCPH) of the Ministry of Health.
The Center explained that Kazakhstan's national preventive vaccination schedule provides for routine immunization against 11 infections:
Vaccination against certain other infections is carried out for specific population groups based on epidemiological indications.
"A combination vaccine (MMR) is used in Kazakhstan for the prevention of measles, mumps, and rubella. Currently, there is no convincing scientific data suggesting that separate administration of these three components is safer than combination vaccination," the specialists noted.
The National Center added that following the U.S. decision, the WHO also stated that national vaccination schedules are developed based on the epidemiological risks of a specific country. Immunization recommendations are rooted in decades of scientific data and observation.
The National Center for Public Health (NCPH) emphasized that there are no grounds to revise Kazakhstan's national immunization schedule following the decision by US authorities.
"Our preventive immunization schedule is not a copy of any single country's calendar. It was developed based on WHO recommendations, international experience, and, most importantly, the epidemiological situation in Kazakhstan. Its primary goal is to protect the population from infections that pose a real threat within the country. Therefore, changes to US immunization recommendations do not, in themselves, provide a basis for modifying Kazakhstan's national schedule," the center explained.
Regarding the combined MMR vaccine, the center noted that it provides protection against three infections simultaneously with fewer injections and fewer clinic visits.
According to specialists, splitting vaccinations into multiple visits extends the period during which a child lacks full protection and increases the likelihood that a subsequent shot will be delayed or missed.
Additionally, increasing the frequency of medical visits raises the risk of contact with sick individuals and the potential for infection.
"For example, by the age of two, a child typically visits a medical facility five times to receive eight injections. However, switching to separate vaccines for measles, rubella, and mumps would increase the number of visits to seven, and the child would have to receive 10 injections," the National Center for Public Health explained.
Consequently, no changes to Kazakhstan's national schedule are planned in connection with the US authorities' decision. Experts believe that any revision requires objective scientific and epidemiological grounds.