In the public health system of the United States, one of the most disturbing developments of recent decades is unfolding around vaccinations. While vaccines, considered one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, previously enjoyed almost consensus-level support in both the political and scientific communities, in recent years an increasingly powerful anti-science movement has begun to question the necessity and safety of mandatory vaccinations.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the head of the Department of Health is a political figure who is not a physician and who is a vaccine denier, having previously openly questioned the effectiveness and safety of vaccines on several occasions. The American press is publishing more and more warnings that political decisions are setting in motion processes in the country that could fundamentally shake the system of protection against epidemics that has been built up so far.
American Community Media organized a press briefing on the subject, where Dr. Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that anti-science rhetoric could have serious public health consequences. According to Besser, the erosion of trust in vaccines affects not only the acceptance of a particular vaccine, but can also undermine the credibility of the entire public health system. If people lose their trust in scientific institutions, the response to future epidemics could become much more difficult.
Dr. Besser said: “I do not recommend looking at the CDC website right now, it is full of misinformation and disinformation. Instead, follow medical advice. It appears that public trust in vaccines is increasingly tied not only to scientific evidence but also to initiatives by politicians. If you have a health care provider you know and trust, it is better to ask them.”
Last year, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replaced them with a body of his own choosing. “The new body is full of anti-vaccine fanatics,” Besser noted. He added that few of the new members have public health or vaccination expertise.
Measles was eliminated in 2000, but due to lower vaccination rates it is returning in the United States. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health vaccination tracker reported 1,099 measles cases in the first two months of 2026. The data include a major outbreak in South Carolina with 674 cases and a smaller outbreak in Utah. In the entire year of 2025, 2,213 measles cases were recorded in the university’s vaccination tracker. The figures include severe outbreaks in Texas, Utah, South Carolina, and Arizona.
“Across the country there are significant efforts to eliminate vaccination requirements for children attending school. To me this is one of the most frightening ideas I have seen in my life,” Besser said. “It means that if we send our child to kindergarten and decide to vaccinate them, we cannot know that they will not be sitting next to an unvaccinated child who could potentially give them something very serious and severe.”
America is losing its leading position in medical research. We also see that America is losing its position in global health diplomacy. America is no longer in the top ten in terms of life expectancy. According to Besser, “we are the only wealthy nation where not everyone has access to health care. Access to a doctor depends on the ability to pay, and that is not the case in other wealthy countries. If you have strong financial resources, you do very well in the United States, but if you do not, you are in trouble.”
Leaving the World Health Organization will not make the country’s residents safer, but will expose people living here to greater risks. The WHO is an organization committed to global health and committed to ensuring that everyone has access to health care. Infectious diseases do not respect borders. It is a fundamental moral responsibility that, as a wealthy nation, we become part of the global community, share our information, and provide resources for vaccinations.
According to the expert, anti-science campaigns often spread through social media. On online platforms, information and conspiracy theories spread rapidly that question the safety of vaccines or exaggerate their alleged side effects. Research shows that these messages often rely on emotionally driven stories that spread more easily than explanations based on scientific evidence.
Political changes surrounding the vaccination system also affect approval procedures. Some proposals aim to modify the rules under which vaccines are approved and authorized for use. Public health experts fear that if political considerations increasingly shape decision-making, it could undermine the system based on scientific evaluation.
At the press briefing, Dr. Besser emphasized that the history of vaccines is one of the greatest success stories of modern medicine. Vaccinations have helped eradicate smallpox, dramatically reduce cases of polio, and save millions of lives around the world. For this reason, he said, it is particularly troubling that political debates surrounding vaccines are distracting attention from these facts.
The expert warns that the long-term consequences of current developments could be serious. If vaccination rates continue to decline, it will endanger not only individual health but the safety of society as a whole. Infectious diseases do not stop at the boundaries of communities that reject vaccines, but can spread rapidly throughout the entire population.
In the United States, mandatory childhood vaccinations have traditionally been conditions for school attendance. Regulations vary from state to state, but in most places children could not start school without vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other infectious diseases. In recent years, however, more and more states have relaxed these rules or expanded so-called “exemptions,” allowing parents to refuse vaccinations on religious or personal grounds. According to public health experts, this process is particularly dangerous because the effectiveness of vaccines depends heavily on so-called herd immunity, meaning that the overwhelming majority of the population must be protected against infectious diseases.
One of the greatest concerns in the scientific community today is the uncertainty surrounding measles vaccinations. Measles is an extremely contagious disease that, before the introduction of the vaccine, infected hundreds of thousands of people in the United States every year and in many cases led to severe complications or death. Vaccination programs virtually eliminated the disease, but in recent years several outbreaks have occurred in communities where vaccination coverage has significantly declined. According to American public health authorities, if this trend continues there is a risk that diseases once thought to have nearly disappeared will begin to reappear regularly.
The debates are not limited to childhood vaccinations. Political conflicts surrounding COVID-19 vaccines have further strengthened anti-vaccine movements. During the pandemic, the rapid development and deployment of vaccines saved many lives, but because of political polarization the vaccines also became part of cultural and ideological battles. According to reports in the American press, some political groups are now questioning not only COVID vaccines but the modern vaccination system as a whole.
In the history of American public health, there have been several moments when a major epidemic reminded society of the importance of vaccines. Experts hope, however, that this time it will not be another severe epidemic that forces a reversal of current trends. In their view, scientific evidence, credible information, and the restoration of public trust are essential if the United States is to preserve the public health protection that vaccines have provided over the past century.
