President Donald Trump’s order directing Americans to receive separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines faces an immediate obstacle: none of the individual shots are licensed in the United States and experts say it could take years before any become available, if they ever do.
Two manufacturers – Merck & Co and GSK – are licensed to make combined measles, mumps and rubella shots for patients in the United States. Single disease shots for these diseases have not been available in the U.S. since Merck stopped making them in 2008. They are not routinely used in most other countries.
Merck and GSK said in statements there is no published scientific evidence supporting the separation of the vaccines and decades of evidence supporting the safety of their combined shots.
