Latest news with #JanSonnenmair
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What the Trump White House Is Doing to Our Kids' Health
A family supports a young child as he receives the MMR vaccine at a vaccine clinic put on by Lubbock Public Health Department on March 1 in Lubbock, Texas. Credit - Jan Sonnenmair—Getty Images In March 2025, it was announced that the U.S. would no longer support international public health programs that vaccinated millions of children worldwide. This is a hit to children worldwide on top of the Trump administration cuts to U.S. AID programs that provided basic nutrition for hundreds of thousands of children worldwide. One may interpret these directives as a reflection that the current U.S. political leadership no longer believes that the U.S. has an obligation to non-American children. But one only needs to look at what is happening in the U.S. now to see that the lack of care for children at home, as the administration signals to cut the Vaccines for Children program, which supports disease-preventative efforts in the U.S. Examining what has evolved from the culture wars of the past several years, one sees a slew of policies detrimental to children in many ways. Rather than reflecting mainstream pediatric and educational philosophy, these policies mirror the political creep of fringe groups and politicians to impose their viewpoints on other people's children. These policies impact infection control, education, nutrition, healthcare, and the environment. Front-page news is now dotted with reports of a resurgence in vaccine-preventable infections, including measles. But contrary to some, vaccinations have never been a matter of personal choice in this country, but rather a 100-year-old societal obligation to keep America safe. In fact, the majority of Americans support childhood vaccination (about 70%), according to a January 2025 report by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). Yet, the measles outbreaks happening across the U.S. are predictable consequences of a well-funded anti-vaccine movement that has pushed for laws encouraging vaccine exemptions and the weakening of school vaccine requirements. To the dismay of our nation's physicians, this movement now has a seat at the top of Health and Human Services (HHS) in RFK Jr., an anti-vaccine proponent. The fact that two unvaccinated children have died of measles, 17% of infected individuals are hospitalized, and children have been hospitalized with vitamin A toxicity, reportedly in response to RFK Jr. advocating vitamin treatment for measles, shows the consequences of fringe medical viewpoints on children. As the number of reported cases of measles in the U.S. nears 1000, and cases are now in half the states without a massive outcry and response from federal agencies, one can only ask if childhood deaths from measles will become the new normal. The recently announced $11 billion in cuts of CDC funding will also impact health departments across the country, affecting not only COVID-19 relief programs but also state pediatric vaccine programs. Plans to reduce the HSS workforce by 10 thousand employees will also affect vaccination programs and infection surveillance. Thus, children in the U.S. will bear the consequences of needless infections, with medical, educational, economic, and lifelong consequences, and the nation may sadly soon learn what natural herd immunity looks like as vaccine-preventable illnesses spread across the country. Pediatric healthcare is also under attack as never before. Americans may be surprised to learn that 48% of children in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid, which provides healthcare for these children. We now hear cries for hundreds of billions of dollars to be cut from Medicaid, claiming that these cuts will come from curtailing waste, fraud, and abuse. Yet, according to reports, this number is quite low. We also need to recognize the significant shortages in pediatric care providers, which will only worsen as provider payments are cut. What are the proposed alternatives for providing pediatric healthcare when Medicaid is cut? What's more, there is a woeful shortage of pediatric dental care. This situation is even dire for children on Medicaid. And now, the scientifically unsound political campaign against water fluoridation is another example of an anti-pediatric fringe initiative to dismantle a public health success. There is no evidence that properly maintained levels of fluoride in drinking water provide anything but benefits through the reduction of dental cavities. Furthermore, the anti-fluoridation movement has not called for cavity prevention alternatives, such as fluoride supplements or varnishes, which are proposed to promote pediatric dental health or improve access to pediatric dental care. It is also an uncomfortable reality that millions of children in America do not have enough food and would go to bed hungry if not for federally funded nutrition programs. The SNAP program, administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, provides billions of dollars in funding for school lunch programs and serves approximately 30% of school-age children in the US. However, this program is slated for large budget cuts. Additionally, procuring produce from local farmers was a key component to promote nutritious offerings in school lunch programs. However, despite RFK Jr.'s calls to promote healthy eating, the $1 billion local farmer procurement program has been eliminated. This doesn't even begin to touch the intense effect cuts to reproductive care have on kids. The impact of abortion bans on teenage pregnancy and outcomes is now coming to light. These data show increases in teen pregnancies and an increase in newborn deaths. Yet, we are seeing attempts to restrict sex and birth control education in many states by conservative elements when more education is needed to prevent unintended pregnancies. Read More: What Trump Has Done on Reproductive Health Care In His First 100 Days Much has been highlighted about the mental health problems our children are experiencing. It is too convenient to blame these issues on the unregulated proliferation of social media. There are multiple factors for mental health problems in the U.S., including the stress that society is under due to dizzying politics and culture wars—not to mention environmental degradation. The past few decades of climate change have had an impact on society. Thus, there has been a rightful concern and regulation of environmental toxins in air, water, and food, as well as the impact of climate change on health. Numerous studies also show that environmental toxins disproportionately hurt children as compared to adults. Incredibly, looking to their future, children in Montana sued the state and won, arguing that the state needed to implement policies to mitigate the impact of climate change. Here, too, we are seeing the evisceration of policies that provide environmental protections for all of us, including children. At the state level, we also see laws considered that will be detrimental to children. In response to a workforce shortage caused by the loss of immigrant workers, the Florida legislature is proposing legislation that will roll back child labor laws. The proposed bill will allow children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts on school days. The impact of a singular pediatric-related policy change on infection prevention, nutrition, education, healthcare, or the environment would be dramatic. However, the cumulative effect of numerous collective policies that change in multiple ways simultaneously may be devastating. In 1963, President Kennedy said, 'For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.' Amidst the political chaos, which is sadly becoming the new norm, perhaps now is the time to step back and ask when America stopped cherishing its children. Are we prepared for the answer and consequences? Contact us at letters@
RNZ News
25-04-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
US warned to prepare for millions of measles cases in next 25 years, if vaccine rate don't increase
By Jen Christensen , CNN Signs point the way to measles testing in a parking lot near Wigwam Stadium, Seminole, Texas, on 27 February. Photo: AFP/ Getty Images - Jan Sonnenmair Because measles is so contagious, experts say the only way to prevent outbreaks is if at least 95 percent of a community has received two doses of the MMR vaccine. After this rate was maintained for a decade, though, coverage dipped during the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to recover. The measles vaccination rate fell to 92.7 percent for kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the CDC. Measles could become endemic in the United States again, if routine childhood vaccination rates continue declining, with up to 51 million illnesses over a 25-year period, according to a new study. Although the disease is already endemic in some other countries - meaning it happens regularly within an area or community - it was declared eliminated in the US in 2000 because of vaccination efforts with the highly effective measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Nearly 900 measles cases have been recorded in the US this year, with more than half of states reporting at least one case, according to a CNN tally using data from state health departments and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases have been linked with an outbreak centred on an area of West Texas with a large unvaccinated population. The new model, published Thursday in the journal JAMA, looks at the potential spread of the disease in the US over 25 years based on different vaccination levels calculated using data from 2004-23. The researchers - from Stanford, Baylor, Rice and Texas A&M universities - estimate current state-by-state vaccination coverage for measles at 87.7 to 95.6 percent. Because measles is so contagious, experts say the only way to prevent outbreaks is if at least 95 percent of a community has received two doses of the MMR vaccine. After this rate was maintained for a decade, though, coverage dipped during the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to recover. The measles vaccination rate fell to 92.7 percent for kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the CDC. At current vaccination rates, the model predicts that the disease would become endemic in the US within 25 years. If the vaccination rate declines 10 percent, the US would see 11.1 million cases of measles in this period. If current trends were reversed and there was a 5 percent increase in the number of people getting the MMR vaccine, however, there would be only 5800 measles cases over 25 years. One-year-old River Jacobs is held by his mother while he receives an MMR vaccine at a vaccine clinic in Lubbock, Texas, on 1 March. Cases of measles have been rising in the US, and there have been three deaths from it this year, the CDC says. Photo: Jan Sonnenmair / Getty Images / AFP The model showed that other vaccine-preventable diseases shouldn't become endemic in the US at current levels of vaccination. If, however, routine childhood vaccination falls 50 percent, it predicts 51.2 million measles cases over a 25-year period, 9.9 million cases of rubella, 4.3 million cases of poliomyelitis and 197 cases of diphtheria. With such a steep decline in vaccinations, these diseases would cause 10.3 million hospitalizations and 159,000 deaths. "These findings support the need to continue routine childhood vaccination at high coverage to prevent resurgence of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases in the US," the researchers wrote. One of the limitations of the study is that it doesn't take into account that vaccination rates can fluctuate from community to community. Essentially, each state gets its own bucket, noted Dr Mujeeb Basit, a modelling expert on disease spread who was not involved with the new research. "But the problem with that is, you're comparing Texas to a smaller state like Rhode Island. So it's not a homogenous distribution by size, so the accuracy of the numbers will fluctuate," said Basit, a professor at UT Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas. But he said the issue is computationally difficult, and the researchers took a "really nice approach." Research like this is important, he said, because it shows clearly that if vaccination trends continue, the US could experience continuous measles outbreaks that would have a cascading effect on the health system. "Hopefully, it will get people to think," he said - and to act, getting protection through vaccination. - CNN
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Do You Need a Measles Vaccine Booster?
Boxes and vials of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Virus vaccine at a vaccine clinic put on by Lubbock Public Health Department on March 1, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. Credit - Jan Sonnenmair—Getty Images Amid the measles outbreak that started in Texas and is now believed to have spread to four other states, many people might be wondering: do I need to get a measles vaccine booster? Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease that can lead to severe complications, including death. It's also vaccine preventable through the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is typically administered in childhood in two doses. More than two decades ago, measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., thanks in large part to a successful vaccination program. But in recent years, vaccination rates have declined and measles cases have soared. In 2024, there were 285 reported measles cases in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Four months into 2025, the agency has received reports of 800 confirmed measles cases. Of those, 96% were in people who were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. So far in 2025, two children in Texas have died of measles-related complications; both of them were unvaccinated. A third person, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico, tested positive for measles after death, though the official cause of death is still under investigation, according to the CDC. Before this year, the last confirmed measles death in the U.S. was in 2015, according to the CDC. Read More: Why Measles Cases Are Rising Right Now Public health experts say that the best way to protect yourself against measles is to get vaccinated. The MMR vaccine is safe and effective; according to the CDC, two doses are 97% effective against measles. People who don't get the MMR vaccine in childhood can still get it later in life, says Dr. Ravi Jhaveri, a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the division head of pediatric infectious diseases at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The CDC has said that most people who get the MMR vaccine will be protected for life, and there are no official recommendations to get a third dose of the vaccine during a measles outbreak. 'The vast majority of people with two doses are protected [and] do not come down with measles,' Jhaveri says. 'We have decades upon decades of experience that two doses has been safe and effective, and when we maintained two doses at a very high level across our population, we were seeing very few, if any, outbreaks.' Still, that doesn't mean a booster is never needed for other types of diseases. According to Jhaveri, there are two important factors that help make that determination: the genetic variability of the virus and the nature of your immunity. The viruses causing the flu and COVID-19, for instance, have a lot of genetic variability, which is why public health experts recommend getting a new vaccine against those viruses every year. People also get booster shots for tetanus because antibody levels against the bacteria wane over time and if someone has a high-risk exposure—such as stepping on a rusty nail—doctors err on the side of vaccinating them afterward, Jhaveri says. But measles, he says, is more genetically stable and both doses of the MMR vaccine 'allow for you to have antibody levels that are high enough to protect you and also allow your cells to respond in case you are exposed, to prevent you from getting infected.' Jhaveri says that, as people get older, their immune system typically doesn't work as well, so 'theoretically, there may be some drop in measles immunity.' Only about three out of 100 people who are fully vaccinated against measles will get the disease if they are exposed to the virus, according to the CDC. But a vaccinated person who does get the measles typically has much milder symptoms and is less likely to spread the disease to others, compared to someone who is unvaccinated. According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, about 90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus will get measles. There is a group of people who may need to consider getting vaccinated again: according to the CDC, people vaccinated before 1968 with an older version of the vaccine, an inactivated one, should be revaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine we use now, a live attenuated measles vaccine. That's because the inactivated vaccine, which was available from 1963 to 1967, was not as effective as the version we use now. Jhaveri points out that the ongoing outbreak is mostly among unvaccinated people, not those who have been vaccinated, and so getting a third dose would be unnecessary. 'The reason we're seeing outbreaks now is because we have big pockets across our population that aren't getting those two doses,' Jhaveri says. 'So convincing the people who are doing the right thing to do it more is not where the effort really needs to go; it's to convince those people who don't see the benefit of the two doses … that they should get vaccinated.' Contact us at letters@
