In a bold move that could reshape public health policy, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aiming to revamp long-standing federal guidelines on childhood vaccinations. This order also encourages states to reconsider their school vaccine mandates.

This executive directive reclassifies childhood vaccines into three specific categories. It instructs federal agencies to promote these new recommendations and strongly advises states to reassess their policies on school immunization requirements.

Named the ‘Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations,’ the order also propels President Trump’s long-held objective to separate the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into individual doses. This initiative is rooted in concerns about a discredited link to autism.

The order, in its essence, proposes that all childhood vaccinations should be given during separate medical appointments whenever possible.

Despite these changes, medical professionals have consistently advocated for the combined MMR vaccination, citing its safety and efficacy. They caution that dividing the vaccine into separate shots might leave children susceptible to serious illnesses for extended periods.

The order explicitly acknowledges that the administration’s earlier vaccine directives have been ‘delayed due to litigation’ and instructs federal agencies to advance the new recommendations ‘to the fullest extent allowable by law.’

The order, however, is largely symbolic. States hold the power over school vaccine mandates, not the federal government. Even changes to the federal vaccine schedule would require formal rulemaking through the CDC and its advisory committee.

The order comes as measles cases are surging. The CDC has recorded 2,465 cases across 47 states so far in 2026 – already surpassing last year – with 93 percent in unvaccinated people. Childhood vaccination rates have dropped to 92.5 percent, leaving nearly 300,000 children vulnerable.

The MMR vaccine has been proven safe and effective through decades of research. It is 97 percent effective at preventing infection, adverse effects are rare and there is no scientific evidence that separating the vaccines provides any medical benefit.

The CDC’s current MMR dosing schedule is two doses: the first at 12 to 15 months of age and the second at four to six years old, before starting school.

Under the current CDC schedule, vaccines generally are spread across multiple doctor visits in a child’s first year and a half at two, four, six, 12 and 15 months. 

Rather than getting all at once, children receive a few shots at each visit designed to protect them as early as possible. Medical experts say this schedule is carefully studied and proven safe. 

The executive order does not provide a specific updated schedule with ages and timing. It directs agencies to review the recommendations and adjust the schedule ‘as appropriate.’

The latest order builds on a change announced in January, when the Department of Health and Human Services slashed the number of vaccines recommended for all children from 17 to 11.

Under the administration’s proposed vaccine guidance overhaul, which is advisory and cannot be mandated, vaccines for 11 diseases including measles, mumps, polio and whooping cough would be recommended for all children.

Vaccines for hepatitis A and B and meningococcal disease would be recommended only for high-risk groups or through shared decision-making between parents and doctors. Flu and Covid shots would also fall into the shared decision-making category.

Trump said Monday: ‘Together, there could be a possibility [the MMR] is quite lethal and separately it looks like they are not at all lethal but very effective. 

‘For example, at one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day.’

‘And I saw this early on and I’ve seen proof of it where they have a vaccination thing, it looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body and bad things happen in many cases.’

There is no evidence that the combined MMR vaccine is lethal. Serious side effects are extremely rare and the risks of the vaccine are vastly outweighed by the risks of the diseases it prevents. 

Before the measles vaccine, about 500 children died from measles every year in the US. According to the CDC, about 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 children infected with measles will die from complications, while there have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people.

Doses of live viruses like those in the MMR vaccine are tiny — a fraction of a teaspoon.

Many states now follow guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other major medical groups, which recommend vaccines based on a child’s immune system development and oppose nonmedical exemptions, after splitting from the CDC schedule over what they called a departure from ‘long-standing medical evidence.’

‘AAP recommends immunizations that have been designed to teach the immune system to recognize and resist serious diseases,’ said Dr Sean O’Leary, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases.

‘They are carefully tested and monitored over time. The pacing and combination of vaccines are based on what we know about when your child’s immune system is ready to learn and respond best.’

Trump’s push to split the MMR vaccine stems from a long-held personal belief, rooted in a debunked theory linking childhood vaccines to autism.

The president has publicly questioned whether the number of vaccines children receive can cause autism, despite decades of research finding no link.

He has framed the issue as a matter of ‘common sense,’ telling reporters last year: ‘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. In fact, they think it’s better.’

He has said that he and First Lady Melania Trump deliberately spaced out vaccines for their son Barron, describing it as ‘the old-fashioned way.’

A federal judge blocked similar changes in March, siding with major medical organizations that argued Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr had unlawfully changed vaccine policy and improperly reconstituted the federal panel that advises the government on vaccines.

More than 40 studies involving over 5.6 million people have found no link between the MMR vaccine, or any vaccine, and autism.

The 1998 study that originally sparked fears was retracted, its author lost his medical license, and subsequent research has repeatedly reaffirmed the safety of childhood vaccines.

In late 2025, RFK Jr directed the CDC to remove explicit statements from its website declaring that vaccines do not cause autism.

The agency updated its text to instead highlight areas needing further observation, prompting criticism from public health groups.

The latest CDC data shows that 1 out of 31 kids were diagnosed by the time they turned 8, up from 1 out of 36 just two years earlier, but that increase is linked to broader diagnostic criteria, better screening and greater awareness, rather than vaccines.

Private insurers are still required to cover all ACIP-recommended vaccines at no cost, including those in the ‘shared clinical decision-making’ category. The order does not change that.

Major health insurers have also pledged to continue covering the broader September 2025 vaccine schedule through at least 2026, and some states have passed laws requiring insurers to cover vaccines beyond the federal minimum.

The one exception is HPV. Insurers are no longer required to cover additional doses beyond the newly recommended single dose, though some plans have pledged to do so temporarily.

In a significant military leadership overhaul, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei announced the formal appointment of six top commanders on Monday. This move comes as Tehran looks to reforge its command structure, disrupted by relentless strikes from the United States and Israel.

These military appointments, broadcasted by Khamenei’s office and gaining traction on social media, fill strategic positions within Iran’s armed forces, including the IRGC and the Basij paramilitary faction. As this reshuffle unfolds, a counterterrorism expert cautions that the timing and narrative of these decrees suggest Tehran is not seeking conciliation with Washington but rather gearing up for “prolonged confrontation”.

Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, shared insights with News Media about these developments. He noted that the strategic release of these announcements in English on platform X coincides with ongoing negotiations between Iranian and Omani officials regarding a new shipping route through Hormuz, indicating a purposeful sequence of events.

“Tehran is entrenching its command framework as an indisputable reality before entering into any formal agreements,” Dr. Mohammed emphasized.

Mohammed also pointed to language in the appointment announcements blaming the deaths of predecessors on what Iran called the “Zionist-American enemy.”

“That phrase, in formal state documents, codifies the United States as a co-belligerent,” Mohammed said.

Khamenei appointed Ali Abdollahi as chief of staff of the armed forces and Kioumars Heydari as his deputy. He also formally named Ahmad Vahidi commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, promoting him to the rank of major general.

Mostafa Izadi was named deputy IRGC commander, Ali Azmaei as commander of the IRGC Navy and Hossein Taeb as commander of the Basij. 

Mohammed said Vahidi was also instructed to maintain readiness for “powerful offensive operations against the enemy,” by the Supreme Leader, while Abdollahi was tasked with completing the integration of the General Staff into the Khatam al-Anbiya wartime joint command.

“States exiting a conflict dismantle their wartime command arrangements, but Iran is now institutionalizing its own,” Mohammed said. “The decrees here describe a leadership planning for a prolonged confrontation, not a settlement.”

Several of the newly appointed commanders have previously faced U.S. or European sanctions or allegations tied to terrorism and violent crackdowns.

Vahidi is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice requested by Argentina over his alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

Taeb, a former chief of the IRGC Intelligence Organization and former Basij commander, is on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list.

The United States first designated him in 2010 over serious human rights abuses following Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election.

Heydari was also sanctioned by the United States in 2022 after the Treasury Department said he had publicly acknowledged his forces’ involvement in the violent response to Iran’s November 2019 protests, in which hundreds of protesters were killed. 

The European Union has also sanctioned him.

The reshuffle comes as Iran continues rebuilding its political and military leadership after a series of U.S. and Israeli strikes killed senior figures across the regime.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had served as supreme leader since 1989, was killed in a Feb. 28 strike at the start of the war. Mojtaba Khamenei, was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader in March.

Ali Larijani, then secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a major figure in the country’s security and foreign policy establishment, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij, were killed in strikes on March 17.

The latest appointments come amid continuing questions about Mojtaba Khamenei’s health and public absence.

President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed Monday that he had held a nearly seven-hour meeting with Khamenei, only the second meeting the president has publicly disclosed since the new supreme leader took office, Iran International reported.

Khamenei has not appeared publicly since being selected in March and is believed to have been wounded in the Feb. 28 strike that killed his father.

Pezeshkian said the two discussed economic conditions, sanctions and other domestic challenges and that Khamenei emphasized the need for “unity and cohesion.”

The military rebuild, however, has not extended fully into Iran’s sensitive intelligence apparatus, according to Mohammed.

“The IRGC Intelligence Organization and its counterintelligence arm have no announced chiefs, and Iran has no permanent defense or intelligence ministers,” the expert said.

“The appointments require assigning responsibility for the counterintelligence failures that enabled the February decapitation.

“Whoever wins that argument — the supreme leader’s circle or the Guard’s institutional leadership — is the actor actually in control.”

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever continue to make headlines as their story unfolds in unpredictable ways.

With each passing day, drama unfolds and new narratives emerge in the sports world.

Amidst the swirling controversies surrounding every basketball possession, one thing that often gets overshadowed is Caitlin Clark’s stellar performance on the court.

Clark’s passing is nothing short of spectacular, and her pull-up 3-point shot is among the most formidable weapons in sports today. She combines rhythm and strategic foresight to maneuver around defenders, showcasing an enhanced ability to read the game better than ever.

On Saturday, as another Fever matchup became the epicenter of debate over myriad aspects of the game, Clark stood out with 26 points and 11 assists, leading her team to victory against the Sky.

It was the latest in what’s been an impressive 3 ¹/₂ weeks for Clark.

During this eight-game stretch, she’s averaging 26.5 points and 9.3 assists while shooting 49.6 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep to help the Fever go 6-2.

Clark’s game is so fun, and the Fever are one of the most exciting teams in the league.

And yet, everything else surrounding her and her team is not.

In a lot of ways, Clark’s season personifies her team’s.

The Fever keep feeding people reasons to talk about anything except basketball, with Sophie Cunningham’s remarks about trans athletes being the latest fuel. But the way they’re playing commands the attention of the basketball world.

Injuries

From the sideline, Clark watched her team fall five minutes short of the Fever’s first Finals appearance since 2015 after a groin injury prematurely ended her sophomore season.

Clark returned this year healthy and determined.

But Clark and the Fever can’t seem to do anything without it becoming a thing.

Her back hurt.

She was ruled out of the Fever’s May 20 game less than two hours before tipoff, despite not being listed on the team’s availability report.

The WNBA issued the Fever a warning for failing to accurately update and disclose her status.

Her back has been a recurring issue causing her to miss games or be on a minutes restriction.

Incidents

Clark hit an early rough patch when her shot was not falling and she was being hunted on defense.

She got into it with her coach, Stephanie White, on the sideline in late May, and it became another headline, another thing.

Then, there was the situation with Alyssa Thomas a month later when the Mercury star struck Clark in the throat.

No foul was called on the play in real time, but the video went viral.

The WNBA reviewed it and retroactively assessed Thomas a flagrant-2 foul and a one-game suspension for what the league deemed reckless contact.

That should’ve been the end of it.

Of course, it wasn’t.

Instead, the incident became another referendum on Clark, the Fever, the WNBA, officiating, race, fandom and, somehow, American politics.

Three weeks later, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Clark had become a “political football,” all the while, Silver noted, she just wants to play basketball.

Technicals

Amid all this drama, Clark’s technical foul count has become its own subplot this season, too, because accumulating eight would mean a suspension.

She got a tech for barking at officials, and another for clapping at the Mercury bench. She received more for various reasons.

Clark’s passion and competitive fire have been painted with a broad brush as overly whiny and complaint-filled.

She was assessed an eighth tech in Saturday’s win against the Sky for essentially running into an official, meaning she would be suspended for Tuesday’s nationally televised game against the Liberty.

The league, though, rescinded it quicker than Usain Bolt on a treadmill.

Momentum

The 20-12 Fever are fourth in the standings.

They have the league’s best offense, anchored by their dynamic backcourt tandem of Clark and Kelsey Mitchell.

Their defense isn’t quite as sturdy but remains respectable, as Indiana has posted the league’s third-best net rating of plus-6.7.

The Fever’s 2026 season has been messy and occasionally ridiculous. The team has found itself in the thick of cultural debates.

The best way to make it about the game is to do the thing only one team does each season — win a championship.

For all the noise around Clark and the team, that’s probably the thing the Fever would prefer to talk about anyway.

In an unexpected turn of events, former reality TV star Joseph Duggar and his wife, Kendra, have retracted their previous not guilty pleas regarding allegations of child endangerment and false imprisonment.

The couple was scheduled to appear in an Arkansas court today, but this last-minute decision has altered those plans.

Back in March, the Duggars faced charges after authorities searched their home, following Joseph’s arrest due to a separate offense in Florida. In that case, he was accused of lewd and lascivious behavior involving a victim under the age of 12 which led to further legal scrutiny.

During the investigation at their Tontitown residence, officers discovered locks installed on the outside of the children’s bedroom doors.

Subsequently, the authorities charged the couple with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and an equal number of counts for second-degree false imprisonment.

Kendra, 27, was arrested on March 20 and booked into the same jail where her 19 Kids and Counting star husband was being held in awaiting extradition over the Florida case.

The couple avoided having to appear in court in Arkansas on Monday by submitting a plea by order, which will allow them to change their plea to guilty or no contest. 

Joseph’s separate Florida case is unaffected by the development and is expected to proceed as normal. He has pleaded not guilty to the Florida charges, waived his arraignment and demanded a jury trial. 

The judge presiding over the case is now expected to accept the couple’s filing and determine their sentence. If convicted on all eight counts, the Duggars face up to eight years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. 

The couple share four children together, sons Garrett and Justus and daughters Addison and Brooklyn. 

Kendra was released on a $1,470 bond 90 minutes after her arrest. Joseph was released from the Florida jail he was extradited to after posting a $600,000 bond on April 1.

A judge initially issued an order forbidding her to have contact with her kids, however, this was overturned after attorney Travis Story, who has represented the Duggars in the Arkansas case, filed a motion. The Daily Mail has contacted Story for comment. 

Joseph’s accuser in his Florida case, who is currently 14, alleged she suffered ‘several incidents of sexual abuse’ when she was nine years old on a family vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida, according to the affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail. 

She made the claims in a forensic interview she gave to a detective with the Tontitown Police Department, per an affidavit written by Deputy Sheriff Darrell Norris of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Lynn Haven, Florida.

At the time of the Florida vacation described in the document, the couple had two children and Kendra was pregnant with their third.

Joseph’s accuser told a detective that during the Florida vacation, she ‘would sit on the defendant’s lap’ and he would ‘cradle [her] with his arms,’ the affidavit states.

As the holiday progressed, Joseph’s behavior is said to have evolved, according to the underage girl’s account of events as relayed in the legal document.

Joseph allegedly requested that she ‘sit on the couch beside [him],’ whereupon he supposedly ‘covered the parties with a blanket,’ per the affidavit.

The alleged victim accused Joseph of fondling and groping her under the blanket.

She claimed he ‘eventually approached the victim and apologized for his actions’ and then ‘the incidents stopped occurring,’ the affidavit claims.

After the underage girl gave her forensic interview to the Arkansas detective, Deputy Sheriff Darrell Norris in Florida ‘requested the detective and victim’s father call Joseph’ in order to obtain a confession from him.

The affidavit claims that during the call, Joseph ‘admitted his actions, stating he touched the victim over her clothing’ and ‘admitted his intentions were not pure.’ 

A tragedy unfolded on New York Harbor when a boat, allegedly operated illegally by a New Jersey resident, capsized. Despite repeated safety warnings, the incident resulted in the heartbreaking deaths of a young mother and her five-month-old child.

Authorities have charged 46-year-old Manuel Hernandez from Manville with grievous misconduct and neglect as a ship officer, following the capsizing of the Yamaha AR210 he was navigating on Saturday night.

On Monday, Hernandez appeared in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo, facing charges that could potentially lead to a 10-year prison sentence for each account.

According to federal prosecutors, Hernandez was conducting tours without a proper license, dangerously overcrowding his vessel with 14 passengers—exceeding its 10-person capacity—and failed to provide an infant aboard with adequate life-saving gear.

According to the federal complaint, it was not Hernandez’s first time allegedly taking paying customers onto New York Harbor without the required credentials.

After his arrest, Hernandez allegedly told investigators he had previously piloted at least two other boat tours for the same tour company using his own vessel.

He allegedly acknowledged he lacked the required Merchant Mariner Credential and Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection for those trips and said he was paid about $1,000 for each.

Coast Guard Investigative Service Assistant Director Josh Packer said illegal charter operations “gamble with human life.”

“In this case, the alleged conduct led to an unthinkable tragedy,” Packer said.

Before Saturday’s fatal trip even began, Hernandez allegedly asked the baby’s parents whether they had an infant-sized flotation device. When they said they did not, Hernandez told them the boat did not have one either, according to the complaint.

Despite that, Hernandez allegedly instructed one parent to wear a life vest and hold the baby throughout the tour. The child’s mother did so.

About three hours and 20 minutes into the excursion, Hernandez allegedly made a U-turn while heading toward the Statue of Liberty, bringing the vessel into a swell that may have been caused by the wake of a larger passing boat.

Hernandez tried to accelerate through the swell, but it swamped the bow and the vessel “immediately capsized,” prosecutors allege.

All 14 people were thrown into the harbor. Eleven passengers and Hernandez survived, while the mother and baby were recovered unresponsive and later pronounced dead at a Brooklyn hospital.

“The defendant allegedly flouted those regulations when he transported paying customers on a commercial vessel without appropriate licenses, overcrowded the vessel, and took on a five-month-old infant passenger, with no infant life vests onboard,” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said.

The boat used in the fatal trip belonged to a friend and was smaller than Hernandez’s own vessel, which needed mechanical repairs, according to the complaint.

Hernandez allegedly told investigators he did not know the borrowed boat’s maximum capacity and had expected 12 passengers before ultimately agreeing to take 13.

The victims were identified in a GoFundMe organized by friends and colleagues as Sara Sanchez, 27, and her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia. Sanchez’s partner and Antonella’s father, Andres Garcia, was also aboard the boat and survived.

Garcia is now grieving their deaths while caring for the couple’s 6-year-old son, Salvador, according to the fundraiser, which is raising money for funeral expenses and other costs. “No amount of money can replace Sara or Antonella,” organizers wrote.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Hernandez showed “a complete disregard for the safety of his passengers.”

“This tragedy could have been prevented, and now a family is left to grieve the unimaginable loss of a mother and her five-month-old daughter because of his negligence,” Tisch said.