Over the past year, I’ve witnessed a troubling trend as, under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has spread and fueled confusion and misinformation around vaccines and immunizations. Last month, Kennedy finally faced Congress — and his testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee only confirmed our worst fears.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) significantly reduced the number of recommended vaccines for all children, creating a ripple effect for families across the country. At Kennedy’s direction, the CDC no longer broadly recommends numerous childhood immunizations that protect infants and children from serious infections and diseases like Hepatitis A and influenza. This decision was made without valid scientific backing, and a federal court has since temporarily blocked the attempt to weaken the childhood vaccine schedule. These policy reversals ignore decades of peer-reviewed research demonstrating the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. While they were later blocked by a federal judge, damage to trust and confusion has already been done.
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the CDC also pulled back public health messaging supporting vaccination, including ending a flu vaccination awareness campaign. When asked whether President Trump approved the decision to end the CDC’s pro-vaccine public messaging campaign, Kennedy refused to answer, saying only that there was “a lot of misinformation” and never clarifying whether the president was involved. That evasiveness speaks volumes.
As someone who has witnessed firsthand the positive impacts of vaccines throughout their life, I know how important it is that this medicine not be politicized. Medical decisions should be made in consultation with healthcare professionals who know the ins and outs of a patient’s case and understand the nuances of longstanding scientific evidence and medical research. The drastic decisions from the CDC and HHS only sow doubt and confusion, leaving people to question what to do and who to trust. When people lose confidence in our public health institutions and guidance, vaccination rates decline, outbreaks follow and children, older Americans and other vulnerable populations suffer the consequences.
Americans know vaccines are the safest and most effective tool in preventing serious illness. Take measles as an example. The measles vaccination has prevented 59 million deaths between 2000 and 2024. Yet a measles outbreak spread across West Texas last year, infecting more than 700 people and causing the deaths of two unvaccinated school-age children — the first U.S. measles deaths in years. At last month’s hearing, Kennedy was pressed on the death of an unvaccinated child and acknowledged that the measles vaccine could have saved that child’s life. That concession, wrung out reluctantly in a congressional hearing, is a damning indictment of the direction he has taken our public health agencies.
Protecting us from preventable diseases should be a priority for our federal officials regardless of their political party. Yet HHS’s actions have been met with silence from too many of our elected officials. Pennsylvania deserves leaders who will stand up against the politicization of science to protect us and future generations.
That means publicly challenging the dangerous rhetoric and misleading guidelines coming from the CDC. It means standing up for decades-long medical recommendations. And most importantly, it means prioritizing our health and well-being. From older Americans to their grandchildren, who deserve to grow up protected from preventable diseases, Pennsylvanians are counting on our representatives and federal officials to use their voices to defend the science that saves lives.