The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
In January of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which sits under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., made an unprecedented change to the childhood immunizations, dropping the number of diseases it universally recommends from 17 to 11.
There was no new scientific evidence showing the immunization was unsafe or ineffective and our country’s children didn’t magically get healthier. These decisions were motivated by ideology and politics, and they put our country’s families at risk.
The public health and medical communities understood the full impact of this decision. How it would eventually lead to more sick children and even deaths. Families just looking to make the right decision to protect their child would see conflicting information from previously trustworthy federal health agencies.
In March, a judge just temporarily blocked HHS’s rollback of immunization recommendations because they were not made with the expert review we previously required. While an important step, that doesn’t change the fact that confusion is already spreading.
Families trust vaccines to keep their children safe, but the sudden changes that Secretary Kennedy made earlier this year add a layer of confusion and questions to doctor's office visits.
This guidance is also what insurance providers have historically used to determine coverage, and families should never have to worry if these life-saving vaccines will be covered.
While reducing sugar or increasing exercise is always a good idea with my patients, Make America Healthy Again’s attack on vaccines only puts our most vulnerable at risk.
Immunizations save countless lives. The World Health Organization estimates 154 million lives have been saved over the past 50 years due to global immunization efforts. And they are one of the most closely monitored medical interventions in the world, meaning they are safe and effective.
We are already seeing the impact of Secretary Kennedy’s public health leadership. Measles cases are on the rise across the country, and the United States is set to lose our measles elimination status this year. A disease that was previously eradicated in the country in 2000.
While doctors, nurses, and public health officials have been pursuing all means of recourse to protect our children, there has been silence from too many of our elected officials in a position to push back. Secretary Kennedy's decisions are not just wrong. They are dangerous, inequitable, and a betrayal of the communities that need public health protection the most.
As someone who grew up on the Navajo Nation it is of great concern, as I witnessed first-hand how many barriers to access to healthcare the tribes have. The lack of transportation is already a big problem, now add the misinformation by what's supposed to be a trusted government agency.
We need our Arizona Congressional delegation to speak out loudly and clearly in support of childhood immunizations that prevent diseases and save lives.
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