Trump tells parents to get vaccines not available in U.S.

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(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump told parents Friday to break up measles, mumps and rubella vaccines and not get them in combinations, a preference not possible in the U.S.

For U.S. residents, that could be difficult.

Vaccinations against measles, mumps are only available in combinations in the U.S, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump told parents to break up the shots. 

"BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED!), TAKE CHICKEN P SHOT SEPARATELY, TAKE HEPATITAS B SHOT AT 12 YEARS OLD, OR OLDER, AND, IMPORTANTLY, TAKE VACCINE IN 5 SEPARATE MEDICAL VISITS! President DJT" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.

In the United States, the single-antigen measles vaccine is not available, but only in combination vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration directed questions to the White House.

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said the advice comes with risks.

"Pediatricians know firsthand that children's immune systems perform better after vaccination against serious, contagious diseases like polio, measles, whooping cough and Hepatitis B," the organization said in a statement. "Spacing out or delaying vaccines means children will not have immunity against these diseases at times when they are most at risk."