WASHINGTON — Dr. Mehmet Oz clarified Sunday that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is not lethal, after President Trump raised concerns when signing an executive order earlier this month pushing for the three-in-one inoculation to be separated.
Oz, the administrator of the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, made clear there is not a death risk as he defended Trump’s executive order, arguing it gives parents more control over their children’s immunization schedule.
“The MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine, and it is offered in other countries,” Oz told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Trump had raised eyebrows on Aug. 10 by suggesting there may be safety concerns as he signed the executive order pushing for the MMR vaccine to be separated into three different vaccines.
“In three separate vaccinations, given at separate times, together there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal,” Trump said at the time. “And separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective. So the MMR, we want to have separate, separate visits, separate times.”
Critics have argued that it will take time for the Food and Drug Administration to approve separate vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella.
Other detractors, such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), also raised concerns that separating the vaccines could create complications for parents who might have to take more time out of work.
“We’re going to pay for the vaccines no matter what,” Oz said, referring to CMS. “This comes back to a much more fundamental issue. Do parents have the right to ask questions?”
Oz explained that while it’s ultimately up to the states to determine MMR vaccine requirements for children, Trump’s executive order is to push the states to “offer parents either eligibility because of religious beliefs or other reasons why they may not want to have their kids take all the vaccines in order.”
The two-shot MMR vaccine has been the recommended standard in the US since 1989. Most major developed countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, have similar MMR recommendations.
During his wide-ranging interview, Oz also addressed concerns about projections that the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will go insolvent in about seven years, triggering an automatic benefits cut of about 11%, per the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
“The plan is the Great American Health Act, and that is going to include codifying the Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing, which helps,” Oz said of the administration’s response. “The fraud, waste, and abuse issue is important.”
“I’ll just put it in the context of what you just gave me: the insolvency of the Medicare trust fund, which is going to happen in six to seven years, it’ll last twice as long.”
