Despite Trump order, Maine to stick with current childhood vaccine guidance

Maine will continue to follow guidance from trusted medical and public health organizations in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order reshaping childhood vaccination recommendations, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

“President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are playing politics with the lives of our nation’s children. Vaccines are safe and effective and save lives,” said Gov. Janet Mills in a statement, which noted the state would continue to follow the guidance of the American Academy of Pediatrics on childhood vaccine recommendations. “Maine will continue to follow the science and the facts, and our approach to vaccines remains unchanged by yesterday’s executive order.” 

Foreseeing the tension between the Trump administration’s efforts to pare down immunization requirements and evidence-based recommendations from other organizations, Maine lawmakers passed legislation this spring to detach the state’s vaccine policy from federal guidance, allowing Maine to also accept recommendations from the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The new laws also protect pharmacists who administer vaccines from liability and grant more authority to prescribe certain vaccines to children and adults, expanding access to immunizations.

Trump’s executive order — which calls on federal programs and funding to “support maximal parental choice over childhood vaccines” — came as the president continued to erroneously connect vaccines to autism during a White House event on Monday. His administration has attempted to de-emphasize childhood vaccinations’ importance, and with Monday’s executive order, wants to reduce the number of routine vaccines kids receive or, in some cases, space them out.

Healthcare experts and politicians from both sides of the aisle opposed the order, saying it will cause confusion.

Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, called the executive order — which comes as the country reaches a 35-year high of measles cases — dangerous. “There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance,” Racine said in a statement.

“Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families,” Racine added.