Advocates Jen Fisher and Dr. Daniel McGinley are featured in this NBC Nightly News piece about decreasing vaccination rates.

Caroline Kennedy was critical of her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s views on vaccinations on the eve of his confirmation hearings for Secretary of Health and Human Services. It comes as vaccination rates for some diseases have been decreasing. NBC News' Erin McLaughlin reports.

Jen Fisher can do only so much to keep her son safe from the types of infections that children can encounter at school. The rest, she said, is up to other students and parents in their hometown of Franklin, Tennessee.

Fisher’s son Raleigh, 12, lives with a congenital heart condition, which has left him with a weakened immune system. For his protection, Raleigh has received all the recommended vaccines for a child his age. But even with his vaccinations, a virus that might only sideline another child could sicken him and land him in the emergency room, Fisher said.

“We want everyone to be vaccinated so that illnesses like measles and things that have basically been eradicated don’t come back,” Fisher said. “Those can certainly have a very adverse effect on Raleigh.”

For much of Raleigh’s life, Fisher could take comfort in the high childhood vaccination rate in Tennessee — a public health bright spot in a conservative state with poor health outcomes and one of the shortest life expectancies in the nation.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” –  Philosopher and essayist George Santayana 

This could soon be our reality, as it seems we’ve forgotten how far we’ve come in preventing serious diseases and saving lives. 

Over 46% of children born in the 1800s did not make it to their fifth birthday.

Today, this number has dropped drastically, reaching its lowest point ever in 2020 where it is just seven deaths per thousand births.

Most of these deaths in the 1800s were from infectious diseases, which have also significantly declined over the last century. 

This is in large part thanks to vaccination and antibiotics created by medical science. In fact, vaccines have saved 154 million lives, including 146 million among children younger than 5 years old. Of those, 101 million were infants younger than 1 year old.

Dr. Leslie Treece is a practicing pediatrician in Cookeville, Tennessee with 25 years of experience in pediatric medicine. She also serves as the vice chair at Tennessee Medical Association Board of Trustees. 

Many years ago, in a small but lively Tennessee town, lived a man named Harold. Harold was deeply skeptical and had seen many things in his day. Whenever anyone wanted to talk about vaccines, he would wave them off, saying “Bah! Mumbo jumbo!” He did not trust vaccines at all. He would say, “All I need to keep me healthy is good food, enough sleep, and a strong immune system. There are too many vaccines these days. It’s all mumbo jumbo!”

Emily Delikat, MPH, CPH is the Director of Tennessee Families for Vaccines a statewide, grassroots, pro-vaccine advocacy organization.

“This level of engagement would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Today’s pro-vaccine advocates are not just reactive but proactive, building coalitions and mobilizing at a scale that we firmly believe will not just rival but overtake the anti-vaccine movement.

…

This preparation is critical as we anticipate new challenges at the federal and state levels. While RFK Jr.’s nomination is profoundly concerning, it has also galvanized the pro-vaccine community, creating a sense of urgency and unity that will be essential in the years ahead.

Yes, the challenges are real, and my heart breaks as we consider the real lives, careers, promising innovations, and economies that will be hurt by anticipated losses to our national infrastructure for health. But our story doesn’t end here. Pro-vaccine advocates are stronger, savvier, and more ready than ever before.

In the same way that high immunization rates shield our families and communities from the spread of disease, a united majority of pro-vaccine advocates will help protect us against the policies that threaten our collective health and well-being. “

Caitlin Gilmet is the communications director for SAFE Communities Coalition, the nation’s leading pro-vaccine advocacy organization. 

A helpful perspective from the Director of Arizona Families for Vaccines - "Kennedy’s messaging dangerously conflates good nutrition and physical fitness with immunity from disease, suggesting that vaccines and medicine are only necessary for those who aren’t “healthy.” While a balanced diet and regular exercise are vital to well-being, health also encompasses preventative medicine, including vaccinations. Vaccines are designed to prevent illness, keeping people healthy by shielding them from preventable diseases. By redefining “health” to exclude modern medicine, Kennedy misleads the public, starting with principles most people can agree on and ending in unscientific conclusions.

... It is essential that President Trump and MAHA advocates understand this balance and select leaders who recognize that a healthy America is one that embraces both diet and exercise as well as modern medicine."

"Now is the time for the pro-vaccine majority to make their support for immunizations heard. SAFE Communities Coalition and our Families for Vaccines state chapters will continue to advocate for immunizations policies based on science and evidence. The same policies that helped the United States to eliminate many vaccine preventable diseases—diseases we don’t want to see our children needlessly suffer from."

This edition highlights vaccine hesitancy and misinformation around MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccines as children return to school and measles cases resurge in parts of the U.S. We also examine emerging narratives around COVID-19 vaccine misinformation following the FDA approval of COVID-19 boosters and false claims linking mpox to the vaccines. Additionally, a review of recent research explores strategies to combat MMR vaccine hesitancy, and we discuss the growing use of AI in academic papers.

The reality is that most Tennesseans understand the importance of vaccination not only in their personal health but also in protecting public health. We recognize that good public health policy is not just about personal choice; it's about safeguarding the health of our families and communities.

And we know that vaccines are one of the most effective tools for preventing the spread of infectious diseases and keeping Tennesseans safe because we have decades of scientific evidence to prove it.

Jason Goolsby, DO, FAAFP - Family physician at Brownsville Family Medicine in Brownsville, Tenn., and 2024 President of the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians.

“There’s a freedom piece on the other side of this argument,” said Caitlin Gilmet, communications director at the vaccine advocacy group SAFE Communities Coalition and Action Fund. “You should have the right to protect your family from preventable diseases.”

In January, Gilmet and other child health advocates offered free fried chicken biscuits at the Tennessee Statehouse, handing out flyers as legislators and aides drifted in to eat. One pamphlet enumerated the toll of a 2018-19 measles outbreak in Washington state that sickened 72 people, most of whom were unvaccinated: $76,000 in medical care, $2.3 million for the public health response and an estimated $1 million in economic losses due to illness, quarantine and caregiving.

Barb Dentz, an advocate with Tennessee Families for Vaccines, repeated that most of the state’s constituents support strong policies in favor of immunizations.

“Protecting kids should be such a no-brainer,” Dentz told Republican Rep. Sam Whitson later that morning in his office. Whitson agreed.

“Dr. Google and Facebook have been such a challenge,” he said. “Fighting ignorance has become a full-time job.”

Story by Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News