Trump Moves to Scale Back Childhood Vaccines Over Conspiracy Theory - Rolling Stone
rollingstone.com
A presidential executive order targeting childhood vaccines rests on a claim scientists have repeatedly tested and rejected — so why does the belief keep driving policy?
Availability CascadeMotivated ReasoningHerd ImmunityPrincipal-Agent Problem
Theory Briefing
- Trump signed an executive order aimed at scaling back childhood vaccines, citing a claim the scientific community has long investigated and not confirmed.
- The move shows how a persistently circulating belief can cross from fringe discourse into formal government policy.
- Vaccine uptake in children is directly tied to herd immunity thresholds, so policy shifts carry measurable public-health stakes.
- The order puts federal health agencies in tension with decades of their own safety data and recommendations.