Hello and welcome to the Osterholm Update, a podcast on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases with Dr. Michael Osterholm.

Dr. Ostrome is an internationally recognized medical detective and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CIDRAP, at the University of Minnesota. In this podcast, Dr. O. Strom

draws on nearly 50 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks to provide

straight talk on the latest infectious disease and public health threats. I'm Chris Dahl,

reporter for CidWap News, and I'm your host for these conversations.

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Osterholm Update podcast.

At a September 21st event at the White House, President Trump made several evidence-free claims

about the childhood vaccine schedule

and how many vaccines young children receive. Among them was the idea that the combined measles,

mumps, and rubella vaccine should be split into three separate vaccines. He would later share

this idea on social media. Needless to say, his comments alarmed many in the public health

community.

Fast forward a few weeks, and that suggestion has now been echoed by the acting director of the CDC.

I call on vaccine manufacturers to develop safe, monovalent vaccines to replace the combined MMR and break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots.

Jim O'Neill said in a post on the social media

site X. The comments by the president and acting CDC director are just the latest example of how

ideas long held by vaccine critics have now taken hold at the highest levels of the federal

health apparatus and could result in significant and dangerous changes to the country's

vaccine infrastructure.

On this October 16th episode of the Ostrom Update, we'll explain why the idea of breaking

up the MMR vaccine into three shots is so alarming to public health experts.

We'll also provide an update on the government shutdown, bringing you up to speed on the still

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