Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz pushed back against the administration's messaging on Sunday, stating that the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is "not a lethal vaccine." Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation, Oz addressed remarks made by President Donald Trump earlier in the month when the president signed an executive order to overhaul the government’s vaccine recommendations, including splitting the MMR vaccine into multiple shots, despite concerns around measles outbreaks around the nation. During that White House executive order signing ceremony regarding childhood immunization policy, Trump suggested that the combined MMR shot "could be quite lethal" and argued that the components should instead be administered in three separate doses.
The president provided no evidence to support that claim. Merck, which produces the MMR vaccine that has been in use for more than 40 years, said it couldn't offer separate shots for at least another 10 years. When pressed repeatedly by host Margaret Brennan to clarify the president's use of the word "lethal," Oz responded: "No, the MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine, and it is offered in other countries, the measles, in particular, separately, like in Japan." Japan banned the combination MMR vaccine in 1993 after it was discovered to use a strain of mumps that caused some children to develop aseptic meningitis.
The government continued to give a separate measles and rubella vaccine, with a separate optional mumps vaccine. However, health officials only began inoculating children with measles booster shots in 2006, leaving older generations, who only had a single dose, with less protection. The exchange marked one of the most prominent instances of a senior health official in the administration publicly drawing a line against the president's vaccine rhetoric.
While Oz also emphasized that parents have a choice, he rejected the characterization of the combination shot as deadly. Oz’s remarks arrive as federal health authorities continue urging high immunization coverage amid declining childhood vaccination rates nationwide. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that was highlighted during Face the Nation on Sunday, approximately 92 percent of U.S. kindergarteners received the MMR vaccine during the prior school year, falling short of the estimated 95 percent threshold required to establish herd immunity against measles.
Public health agencies, including the CDC, have closely monitored a significant resurgence of measles cases across the country. Medical experts and major health organizations maintain that the combined MMR vaccine is safe, highly effective, and clinically superior to administering components separately. Trump has also suggested that separating the vaccine components could affect autism rates, despite extensive research finding no credible link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
Meanwhile, the country is experiencing its highest measles caseload in more than three decades. As of August 20, CDC data shows 2,777 confirmed measles cases nationwide, including 36 new outbreaks this year—94 percent of all cases. The administration’s executive order directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to split the MMR vaccine into three separate shots—measles, mumps and rubella—once manufacturers can produce them domestically.
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