RFK Jr. promotes dangerous vaccine misinformation
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As a retired physician assistant who devoted a long career to public health in Macon County, I am deeply concerned by the misinformation about vaccines being spread by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his appointees.
Parents need and deserve clear, solid guidance about immunizations. They should rely first on their pediatricians and family practice providers. For those who want to take a deeper dive, an excellent place to start is the Vaccine Education Center, an online resource of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. (Not to be confused with the highly problematic “National Vaccine Information Center,” more about which below.)
From 1978 until my retirement in 2015, I served as communicable disease coordinator at the Macon County Health Department, leading the team responsible for preventing, investigating and controlling disease outbreaks. Over those 37 years I witnessed a decline in cases of vaccine-preventable diseases as childhood immunization rates increased and new vaccines were developed. My worry today is that the elevation to influential positions of persons opposed to sound vaccine policy could undo much of that progress.
A challenging but frequently gratifying part of my job was talking to parents who were reluctant to have their children vaccinated. These were conscientious, caring people who were trying to make the best decision for their children based on the information available to them. Unfortunately, there was then, just as there is today, a great deal of unreliable and misleading anti-vaccine misinformation that could look quite convincing to someone without a solid background in evaluating the scientific literature. I found that clear, respectfully given explanations of the known risks and benefits often convinced parents to go ahead with their children’s shots.
The bedrock references I relied on for vaccine information were the guidelines of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The ACIP guidelines still form the foundation of immunization practice in the U.S. Medical providers can assure parents that the advice they give on children’s shots is trustworthy, based on a solid, up-to-date, expert consensus.
In early June, Robert Kennedy struck a blow against that relationship of trust by abruptly dismissing all 17 members of ACIP. As of this writing, he has named eight replacements, several of whom have promoted false or misleading speculations about vaccine risks. Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, calls this “an unmitigated public health disaster.”
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I’ll give just one example of a potentially “disastrous” new ACIP appointment. Vicky Pebsworth is the Director of Research and Patient Safety at a nonprofit that calls itself the National Vaccine Information Center. She believes that her son’s autism was caused by a vaccine. She was influenced to come to this conclusion by Andrew Wakefield, a British researcher who published in 1998 the first study purporting to show a link between measles vaccine and autism. The publicity around that article led to a sharp drop in measles vaccination in Great Britain and other countries, resulting in a series of measles outbreaks, with a number of child fatalities. Wakefield’s research was later proven to be fraudulent. His article was retracted, and he was stripped of his British medical license. He then moved to the U.S., where he became a hero of the anti-vaccine movement despite his history of fraud; the absence of any subsequent studies by him or anyone else confirming his debunked findings; and the strong research evidence disproving any link between autism and measles vaccine. Wakefield has called Vicky Pebsworth a “great friend.”
Vaccines save lives. Misinformation about vaccines, especially when spread by persons in positions of authority, can lead to deaths. There will be difficult times ahead for parents as they are confronted with confusing, conflicting messages. I urge people to trust their pediatricians and family health providers and to seek information from reliable sources, such as the Vaccine Education Center.
(Stan Polanski is a retired physician assistant who lives in Macon County.)
