Maine Insights Newsmagazine

Aug 11, 2026

Maine will continue to follow the guidance of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on childhood vaccine recommendations, despite President Donald Trump’s executive order on childhood vaccinations, per the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC).

“President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are playing politics with the lives of our nation’s children. Vaccines are safe and effective and save lives,” said Governor Janet Mills. “Maine will continue to follow the science and the facts, and our approach to vaccines remains unchanged by yesterday’s executive order.” 

“Vaccines are our most effective defense against vaccine-preventable illnesses,” said Dr. Puthiery Va, Director of the Maine CDC. “In Maine, vaccines remain available at no cost to eligible children through the Maine CDC’s Immunization Program. Maine’s school and child care immunization requirements remain unchanged by federal actions to date.”

As the AAP has noted in their 8/10 statement in response to this executive order:

 “Vaccine recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics are tailored to the health of children living in the United States and are based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences. Pediatricians recommend children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children’s immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases. Sometimes this means children will receive a single shot that protects against multiple diseases, or they may receive multiple vaccines at one visit.” 

Beginning in 2021, Maine removed non-medical exemptions from the school and child care immunization requirements pursuant Public Law 2019, Ch. 154. That decision was upheld by a vote of 72.81 percent of Maine voters at the ballot box in 2020.