President Trump signed an executive order on Monday, August 10, 2026, advocating for separating the MMR ( measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine into three separate vaccines and medical visits, and other actions downplaying the efficacy of current vaccine practices over the objections of most physicians and medical groups. Shelley Facente, PhD, MPH, epidemiologist at UC Berkeley, has a great explainer reviewing the executive order and its implications in detail. 

The degradation of vaccine science in medicine has long been a goal of current Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., although he has claimed to be supportive of vaccines overall. The renewed focus on vaccines is understandably concerning, especially as the US is dealing with multiple measles outbreaks, lowered trust in vaccines, and rising deaths in infants as new parents reject simple health measures like the vitamin K shot, given to newborns to help them properly form blood clots. 

Great News About Vaccines:

• Vaccines still have not been found to cause autism. The latest study of more than 2.5 million children shows that there is no link between the MMR vaccine before age 2 and autism. 

• The Lancet published a study that shows “Since 1974, vaccination has averted 154 million deaths, including 146 million among children younger than 5 years of whom 101 million were infants younger than 1 year. For every death averted, 66 years of full health were gained on average, translating to 10·2 billion years of full health gained.”

• The newest mRNA flu vaccine is more efficient than the standard flu shot, and has just been approved by the FDA for adults aged 50 and above. 

• Moderna reported that an experimental mRNA cancer drug has been found to stop the spread and return of melanoma for the first time.

• Despite what you may have read or heard on the news, the COVID vaccine does not cause miscarriages. Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private speculations in his diary about the possibility of the COVID vaccine affecting pregnancy were not borne out by the actual fact of millions of pregnant women getting the vaccine without adverse reactions. 

• California will be ignoring President Trump’s executive order on vaccines. 

What Do The Experts Recommend? 

• Without exception, medical experts and professional groups all recommend staying up-to-date on your vaccines. 

• Multiple studies have shown that staying up-to-date on your vaccines can lower your risk for dementia. 

• California is currently experiencing a COVID surge. CDPH recommends that people who missed getting their COVID vaccine last year go ahead and obtain a COVID vaccine now instead of waiting for the new vaccine to protect themselves.  

• School has started in the Tri-Valley area. It is the perfect time to follow up with your pediatrician to make sure that you are on top of your kids’ vaccines, and ensure that they obtain their flu and COVID shots when it is made available. 

What’s Going On In The Legislature:

Indivisible Tri-Valley is recommending that you contact your State Senator and State Assemblymember to support the following bills that are currently moving through the legislature. It is fine to make one phone call to ask them to support multiple bills. 

For the State Senate: 

SD-05: Sen. Jerry McNerney: 916-651-4005; 925-828-2500

SD-09: Sen. Tim Grayson 916-651-4009; 925-944-4901

AB 1540- (Gonzalez) 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: LGBTQ+ youth. Restores access to 988 LGBTQ+ Suicide and crisis lifeline.  

AB 2161 (Bonta) Medi-Cal: redeterminations and work or community engagement. . Part of the package of bills intended to minimize negative administrative impact of H.R.1.  Automates medi-cal verifications.   

AB 2201 (Boerner) Medi-Cal: Eligibility redetermination. Part of the package of bills intended to minimize negative administrative impact of H.R.1.  Requires counties to verify income and assets at renewal based on existing information, without requiring additional verification documentation, when certain conditions are met.

AB 2208 (Stefani) Medi-Cal:  Cost sharing and Accessibility.  Part of the package of bills intended to minimize negative administrative impact of H.R.1.  Limited cost sharing, accessibility improvements, and retroactive coverage

For the Assembly:

AD 16: Assb. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (916)-319-2016; 925-244-1600

AD 20: Assb. Liz Ortega: (916) 319-2020; 510-583-8818

SB 608 (Menjivar) Sexual Health   Increases accessibility of birth control by restricting schools from prohibiting distribution of condoms (to students in grades 7-12) and restricting retail establishments from refusing to sell non-prescription birth control solely based on age.

SB 895 (Weiner/Perez/Wahab) California Science and Health Research Bond Act  Puts $12 billion bond on ballot for Science and health research. NOTE: We were made aware that this bill may not pass from Appropriations in order to avoid anyone going on record to oppose it. Please make sure to contact your representative to show your support and increase pressure for this bill! 

SB 942 (Caballero) Civil Detainees.  Requires public health license to operate detention centers

SB 1202 (Weber Pierson) Medi-Cal Dashboard and Outreach. Part of the package of bills intended to minimize negative administrative impact of H.R.1.  Requires DHCS to create a public data dashboard tracking how H.R. 1 affects Medi-Cal eligibility and enrollment. Also strengthens and expands outreach requirements for DHCS, counties, and Medi-Cal managed care to help prevent eligible residents from losing coverage because of the new federal rules.

SB 363 Health Care Coverage: Independent Medical Review (Wiener) - Imposes reporting requirements on insurers pertaining to number of denials and modifications of claims and rates at which those denials and modifications are overturned following independent review.

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