Trump and RFK Jr have made every effort to undermine one of the major civilizing advances of the 20th century – our public health infrastructure
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ew data from the CDC suggests a grim back-to-school tradition emerging: in 2024, kindergarten vaccination rates declined for the fifth consecutive year. Meanwhile, vaccine exemptions reached a record high.
These statistics became all the more disturbing last fall when, shortly after 286,000 children began their educations without proof of full immunity against measles, a man who has bragged about never getting a flu shot was re-elected to the presidency. Since then, the US has contended with its largest measles outbreak in three decades, while the leaders who should be stamping out this crisis are instead fanning the flames.
In just eight months, Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, have made every effort to undermine one of the major civilizing advances of the 20th century – our public health infrastructure. In doing so, they risk endangering millions of people and kickstarting a doom loop of mistrust from which it could take decades to recover.
