Claim
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said a recent study strongly supports separating the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into individual shots.
Verdict: Unsupported and false as presented
Kennedy did not identify the study. FactCheck.org searched PubMed, the National Library of Medicine’s biomedical database, and found no credible new research demonstrating that separating the MMR vaccine would make it safer.
Vaccine experts contacted by the organization also said they knew of no such evidence. One possible source was a May paper that included Andrew Wakefield, whose discredited 1998 work falsely linked MMR to autism. That paper did not establish that separating the vaccine would be beneficial and was not published in a reputable, PubMed-indexed medical journal.
What stronger evidence shows
A recent study examining records from more than 2.5 million American children found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism.
The combined vaccine generally requires two doses. Separating it could require six shots and additional appointments, increasing the chance that children miss doses or remain unprotected for longer.
Public-health policy should be based on identified, reproducible research—not vague references to unnamed studies.