Vaccines are one of many best public well being successes of recent medication. From smallpox to polio to measles, vaccines have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, protected whole generations from incapacity and loss of life, and fortified our communities towards the unfold of infectious illness.
However this basis of illness prevention is now underneath assault.
Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is inserting political ideology above science and public well being. He has embraced rhetoric and coverage positions that undermine vaccine confidence and threaten vaccine availability. What have been broadly debunked as fringe views are more and more changing into the insurance policies of america authorities, carrying actual penalties for the well being and security of our nation.
Since his affirmation, Kennedy has systematically eroded confidence in vaccines. His actions have included an all-out assault on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the apolitical scientific physique liable for reviewing and recommending the composition of vaccines, together with the annual influenza shot. In February, Secretary Kennedy cancelled the committee’s assembly with out clarification, convening the group solely after vital public outcry from main medical teams. The committee in the end authorized an up to date flu vaccine for the 2025-26 season, however the delay raised reliable considerations about whether or not this essential public well being perform will stay insulated from political interference.
In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the advisory committee through a Wall Road Journal op-ed, changing them with eight new members, most of whom lack experience in immunology and infectious illness.
On the first assembly of the newly reconstituted committee, a presentation and vote on eradicating thimerosal — a mercury-based preservative utilized in some flu vaccines — was added with lower than 24 hours’ discover, with out superior scientific assessment or public enter. The newly reconstituted committee voted to advocate that every one flu vaccines be thimerosal-free, which contradicted longstanding CDC steering affirming the protection of thimerosal. This unscientific determination will sow pointless concern and is prone to disrupt flu vaccine manufacturing timelines.
What’s extra, latest strikes to sever ties with the World Well being Group threaten our skill to entry the worldwide surveillance information wanted to reformulate vaccines just like the flu shot, which have to be up to date every year primarily based on evolving virus strains all over the world. With out that info, our skill to guard People from preventable illnesses shall be dangerously impaired.
These actions have real-world results. Childhood vaccination charges are declining. Measles outbreaks — as soon as exceptional in a rustic with near-universal immunization — are making a lethal comeback, with the best variety of deaths in 25 years. And other people with compromised immune programs, who depend on herd immunity to remain protected, are put more and more in danger.
Supporters of those anti-vaccine actions usually invoke “freedom” as their justification. However defending vaccine entry is not only about particular person alternative. It’s about public accountability. Vaccine packages solely work when they’re widespread and rooted in science, not ideology. Undermining vaccine provide chains, delaying or politicizing CDC suggestions, or withdrawing from worldwide scientific cooperation harms not simply particular person households — it weakens our whole well being system.
The info are overwhelming: Vaccines are among the many most rigorously examined medical interventions we’ve. No less than underneath prior administrations, the FDA’s vaccine approval course of has been strong. Publish-market surveillance ensures ongoing security.
This technique is powerful and confirmed, with suggestions primarily based on unbiased information. It’s way more reliable than the conspiracy theories driving Kennedy’s efforts to undermine our confidence within the security and efficacy of vaccines.
Dr. Robert Edelman is previous president and Joe Greaves is govt director of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Affiliation, which represents over 5,000 East Bay physicians.
