In one, a pediatrician from Raleigh, North Carolina, spoke of a baby in the 1990s with Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis, a life-threatening disease.
This devastating illness, once common, has become rare thanks to the widespread use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.
Kressly emphasizes that “One unifying theme of these stories: vaccines allow children to grow up healthy and thrive.
In 2018 and 2019, Kennedy and CHD spread misinformation and stoked fear of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine in Samoa.
“I returned to Ohio reflecting on how fortunate we were to have access to effective vaccines against those illnesses.”
Federal lawmakers are getting ready to determine whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, pediatricians nationwide are urging the administration to defend and promote vaccines that can save lives.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, has compiled dozens of testimonies and nearly 200 stories about the atrocities of vaccine-preventable illnesses and deaths that pediatricians have experienced during their careers. Both the Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) have received the testimonies and will hear them later this week.
“I still remember that baby’s face.”.
AAP President Susan Kressly said in a statement on Monday that the stories are from pediatricians from small practices to large institutions, and from rural to urban areas. While some recounted more recent experiences as vaccine misinformation proliferated and vaccination rates declined, others recalled tales of patients who contracted dangerous illnesses before vaccines were developed to prevent them.
In one, a pediatrician from Raleigh, North Carolina, described a baby who had meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in the 1990s, which is a potentially fatal illness. “I recall at the time holding a baby who had died from pneumococcal meningitis complications. I can still picture that baby’s face, but I’ve never had to go through that again because of the pneumococcal vaccination,” the doctor said. In the United States, the first pneumococcal vaccine for infants was approved in 2000.
In Portland, Maine, a physician encountered the same illness in a patient who had not received the vaccination even though it was available. I treated a young, unvaccinated child who had been admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit as a resident with potentially fatal Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis. Because pneumococcal conjugate vaccines are so widely used, this terrible disease that was once common has become uncommon. This child, however, was left exposed. Dot and [their parents] now had to endure the agony of seeing their child struggle for survival while on a ventilator. “.”.
One common thread among these tales, Kressly notes, is that vaccinations enable kids to develop into healthy, successful adults. We believe that these testimonies will help senators understand the significance of vaccinations for children’s long-term health and wellbeing as they consider candidates for federal healthcare agencies. “.
Despite the fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics, like all other major medical and health organizations, views vaccine safety and effectiveness as “settled science,” concerns about the future of vaccination in the United States have increased since President Trump appointed Kennedy as his health secretary. Kennedy, a well-known opponent of vaccines, was the head of Children’s Health Defense (also known as CHD and formerly the World Mercury Project, or WMP) from 2015 until 2023. He held the positions of chief legal counsel and board chair during that period.
lethal influence.
Kennedy has been spreading unfounded, disproven claims for a long time that vaccines cause autism (there isn’t one) and that vaccines contain mercury (the mercury-based preservative Thimerosal hasn’t been used in childhood vaccines since 2001 and hasn’t been linked to any harm beyond mild redness and swelling). Additionally, he made the untrue claims that childhood vaccines had not undergone testing in “a safety study pre-licensing” or double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, both of which they have.
In Samoa in 2018 and 2019, Kennedy and CHD fueled fear of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine by disseminating false information. Coverage of vaccinations fell to just 31%. A measles outbreak broke out in November of that year, killing 83 people—mostly children. A doctor and current governor of Hawaii named Josh Green was one of the medical professionals who responded to the outbreak. At the time, Green assisted with a large-scale vaccination campaign. In an article published earlier this month in The New York Times, he described the experience of visiting the home of a toddler who had recently passed away from measles and mentioned Kennedy’s involvement in the outbreak.
The child’s face was still red from fever as she lay on a makeshift bed in the center of the family’s one-room home. Although her eyes were glassy and fixed, I could feel the warmth of her skin when I placed my hands on her face. My stethoscope verified that she had stopped breathing.
Her family was taking care of her at home despite her severe case of measles because the hospital was overcrowded and there weren’t enough beds, doctors, or nurses to treat her. Before we had to leave to continue our mission, we prayed for her parents and then vaccinated her family members at their request. “..”.
Researchers at the University of Maryland found that Kennedy’s CHD/WMP was the main source of anti-vaccine advertisements on Facebook in 2019, and he spearheaded a (failed) legal attempt to try to weaken vaccination requirements in New York schools.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy and CHD became even more well-known. Since 2000, CHD has challenged vaccine and public health policies in almost 30 federal and state lawsuits. Kennedy asked the FDA in 2021 to revoke the COVID-19 vaccines’ approval.
Days after the organization appeared to celebrate drops in vaccination rates amid the spread of polio in New York, CHD was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram in 2022.
Warning stories.
Kennedy’s actions are dangerous, as the pediatrician’s stories and testimonies make clear.
A pediatrician from Colorado wrote, “I … have had the devastating experience of witnessing an infant turn blue repeatedly from repeated coughing bouts then die from the pertussis that wreaked her infant lungs.”. Baby RSV patients whose secretions were drowning were intubated by me. A mother was crying as her toddler lay postictal (with altered consciousness) after having his umpteenth seizure due to varicella encephalitis, and I held her hand during the moment. RSV, varicella (chickenpox), and pertussis (whopping cough) can all be prevented with vaccines.
A pediatrician from Ohio talks about his two months in a Ghanaian hospital in 1980. She remarked, “I can still see the faces of the kids who have polio, measles, or tetanus complications: breathing problems, muscle spasms, pneumonia, and dehydration.”. “I thought about how fortunate we were to have access to efficient vaccines against those illnesses as I made my way back to Ohio. “..”.
A family who refused vaccinations until the unvaccinated child of a family friend passed away from streptococcal pneumonia sepsis while traveling overseas was the subject of a story shared by another pediatrician.
The doctor wrote, “My patient’s mother called as soon as she got back to the United States and asked how quickly we can get her children fully vaccinated.”. She said she understood that the risk of death was real, that the risk of poor developmental outcomes was not supported by science, and that the risk was insignificant in comparison to losing her child. “,”.
The HELP committee will hear Kennedy’s nomination on January 30 and the Senate Committee on Finance will consider it on January 29.