Atlanta doctors and health experts are warning that public trust in vaccines will continue to erode, and will have long-lasting consequences, under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
That’s after the Trump appointee’s decision to fire all members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee, and then name his own replacements, which include vaccine skeptics.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices holds three regular meetings each year to review scientific data and vote on vaccine recommendations.
Their first meeting with the new panel is June 25-27. Emory University epidemiologist Dr. Jodie Guest warns that with another COVID-19 variant spreading and measles cases on the rise across the nation, the U.S. has never been more vulnerable.
“We have the largest measles outbreak that we’ve seen in almost 20 years in the United States, and that is based on decreasing rates of children who are getting the vaccine that prevents measles,” Guest told WABE’s “Morning Edition.”
