Merck slams US official's call to split up combined measles-mumps-rubella shots

A top US health official on Oct 6 called for the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot to be broken up, drawing a quick rebuke from vaccine maker Merck, which said there is no scientific evidence that shows any benefit to doing so.

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The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier on Oct 6 pulled broad support for Covid-19 shots, saying they should be administered through shared decision-making with a healthcare provider in accordance with recommendations from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's handpicked vaccine advisory panel.

The acting director of the CDC, Mr Jim O'Neill, on Oct 6 called on vaccine manufacturers to develop three separate vaccines to replace the combined MMR inoculation.

In a Sept 23 news conference at the White House, US President Donald Trump delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them common vaccines should not be taken together or so early in a child's life, and urging them not to use or administer Tylenol, against the advice of medical societies.

Mr Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine crusader before taking on the nation's top health post, has linked vaccines to autism and sought to rewrite the country's immunisation policies.

He fired all members of the national vaccine advisory board of outside experts and replaced them with new members, many of whom shared his views.

The committee is reviewing the childhood vaccine schedule.