PODCAST:
Aug. 21, 2026 ~ Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, joined Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson to discuss Michigan’s decision not to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order on vaccinations.
LANSING ~ On Thursday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will not change any of its vaccine guidelines to match recent changes in federal recommendations for childhood vaccines.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week, alongside Health Secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., that aimed to separate the joint measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three individual shots. The order also seeks to recommend that all vaccines be spaced out at separate medical appointments and that the number of recommended diseases children be vaccinated for be reduced from 18 to 11.
These changes drew criticisms from health experts, with Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian stating that the state’s health department will follow guidelines from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of federal recommendations.
“This is not about disagreeing; this is just about making sure that Michigan residents have the best possible medical information,” Bagdasarian told WJR. “We have reviewed the data, we review the data on a regular basis, and the data around vaccines hasn’t changed. They are very safe, and we know that there is a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases, and so we want to make sure that parents out there have information to keep their kids and keep their families safe.“
