NEW YORK — New York health officials Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s executive order recommending fewer childhood vaccinations and vowed New Yorkers would not suffer any ill effects from the new edict that also backs splitting up the immunizations for measles, mumps and rubella.

State Health Commissioner Dr. James Sullivan denounced the White House announcement, saying it presented “no new research” to back claims that there might be some advantage to children skipping some immunizations, especially with overall vaccination rates dipping.

“With measles cases on the rise across the country, now is not the time to confuse the public. The MMR vaccine has been protecting children for over 55 years,” Sullivan said in a statement.

He called the proposal to divide the most common vaccine into three separate shots administered during separate appointments a foolish idea that could prove costly to working parents and might lead to some kids unnecessarily missing out on protection against diseases.

“Splitting it into three visits offers no clinical advantage and requires children to have more shots and parents to have more office visits while providing no additional medical benefit,” Sullivan said. “Here in New York, we will continue to be guided by the science.”

The state plans no changes to mandatory school vaccination requirements, rejecting Trump’s call to review the policies.

The New York statement came a day after Trump signed an order including a revamped childhood vaccine recommendation calling for fewer vaccines overall and to promote his discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.

The president’s order calls for dividing the MMR vaccine into three single-disease shots and administering the childhood immunizations separately. It also called for a plan to get drugmakers to offer separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children, since that is not currently an option in the United States.

Trump also repeated his claim that vaccines might cause autism, even though public health experts and decades of studies reject that suggestion.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously sought to impose the reduced schedule of childhood vaccinations but a federal judge blocked its implementation.

Sullivan’s statement echoes the objections by leading medical groups and public health officials including Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the announcement spreads uncertainty, fear and confusion where “there doesn’t need to be any of that.”

“Science about vaccines and their efficacy has not changed,” Racine said. “Children in this country have not changed.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul has long boasted that NYS has one of the strongest vaccine and public health programs in the nation. In May, she signed new state laws expanding access to COVID vaccines and requiring insurers cover jabs recommended by the state.

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