Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration is not on board with President Donald Trump’s executive order to change the federal government’s recommended child vaccination schedule.
The order signed by the president Monday eliminates some vaccinations and spaces others further apart.
Trump said the U.S. recommended more childhood vaccines than any peer nation and twice as many doses as some European countries.
“In many cases, we’re requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children,” the president said.
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said researchers are looking into the cause of autism.
“The executive order recognizes the plight of millions of parents across the country with autistic children,” Bhattacharya said.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said, despite the order, IDPH’s endorsement of the American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 Childhood Vaccine Schedule remains in effect.
“The Illinois Department of Public Health is committed to ensuring Illinois residents have reliable access to vaccines and guidance supported by the most up-to-date science,” Vohra said in a statement.
IDPH said the Illinois Immunization Advisory Committee unanimously supported the AAP schedule in spite of President Donald Trump’s executive order to adjust or eliminate some vaccines.
In the same news release, Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Trump’s executive order “a thoughtless piece of paper.”
The federal recommendations include splitting measles, mumps and rubella from one shot into three separate vaccines.
IDPH said the move would increase the burden on parents and caregivers, because it would require additional doctor’s appointments that cost time and money.
The Illinois chapter of the American Association of Pediatrics did not immediately respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said parents can still follow the prior recommendations.
“We will preserve access to vaccines, strengthen safety monitoring, expand research, give doctors and parents better information and restore informed consent and parental choice to their rightful place in American medicine,” Kennedy said.
After Pritzker signed House Bill 767 last December to empower IDPH to circumvent the federal government and issue its own vaccine guidelines, HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon told The Center Square that the governor “eroded public trust” by imposing school closures, toddler mask mandates and vaccine passports during the COVID era.
Morgan Sweeney contributed to this story