Vaccine Wars: Might vs Right

“The most powerful current threat to public health is not an infectious disease or climate change; it is the rampant spread of health-related misinformation and disinformation.”Christine Laine, MD, MPH, Editor in Chief, Annals of Internal Medicine

“For the first time in my career, I am deeply concerned that I cannot fully rely on the CDC’s recommendations. My duty is to my patients, and I will continue to lean on my training and the best available evidence.”

Stephen Patrick, MD, MPH, MS, neonatologist, Children’s Hospital of Atlanta

On July 9, 2025, when I wrote the Germ Gems post “Restoring Trust in Public Health: Start with Vaccines,” I thought the disruption of public health in America couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong.

I markedly underestimated the degree of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s malevolence along with the power of his anti-vaxx movement and their ability to deceive the American public. And, I overestimated the strength of the defense, that is, the public-health community.

Today, things are much worse in the public-health arena than they were this past July. Hardly a day now goes by without news of another setback on the vaccine front; it is a battle of might (political power) vs right (science). In this week’s post, I provide my assessment of where things stand in this battle.

Vaccines save lives (the Right). Historically, vaccination has been the lynchpin of public health. It has always had its naysayers—now called anti-vaxxers. Nonetheless, the scientific evidence unequivocally demonstrates that the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks. To put it succinctly, vaccines save lives.

According to the World Health Organization, vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives globally over the past 50 years and about 95% of those lives were children younger than 5 years old. And, a remarkable global vaccination programeradicated smallpox, a viral infection that killed more people than all wars combined.

Recent battles (the Might). The recent battle against vaccines is not based on science or any new scientific evidence about any vaccine’s safety or efficacy. It is political.

The pivotal event that began the deconstruction of public health as we once knew it in the U.S. was the appointment of RFK Jr. as Secretary of HHS on February 13, 2025. In this position, Mr. Kennedy is able to manipulate government institutions to foster his anti-vaxx (and anti-science) agenda.

Indeed, it didn’t take long after his appointment before he hobbled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and seriously undermined the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the National Institutes of Health. He then revamped the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) hand picking several members who are known anti-vaccine activists.

Recently, the CDC’s revamped ACIP overturned a 34-year old recommendation to vaccinate all American babies against hepatitis B at birth. Instead, the committee voted to recommend the birth dose only for the infants of women who test positive for hepatitis B or whose infection status is unknown. There was no new data to justify the panel’s recommendation.

The panel’s hepatitis B vaccination decision is a major step backward. (Dunavan, C.P., “Resurrecting a Global Killer: ACIP’s HepB Vote,” Medpage Today, December 5, 2025). Hepatitis B is an extremely contagious virus that infects the liver and is the leading cause of liver cancer worldwide. Without vaccination, as many as 9 in 10 infants infected with hepatitis B in their first year of life will develop chronic infection that can lead to liver failure and death. (Rosen, A., “ Hepatitis B Vaccination is an Essential Safety Net for Newborns,” https://publichealth.jhu.edu, September 24, 2025).

The ACIP’s recommendation was quickly met with widespread condemnation by pediatricians, medical societies, and health departments. (McCreary, J., “We Must Absolutely Ignore Them: Experts Defy CDC Panel’s Hep B Vaccine Vote,” MedPage Today, December 9, 2025; Szaba, L. “Pediatricians reject CDC advisers’ guidance, plan to continue vaccinating all newborns against hepatitis B,” CIDRAP News, December 8, 2025). The head of infectious diseases at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Dr. Ravi Jhaveri said, “The ACIP’s decision to vaccinate only babies deemed to be at “high risk” for hepatitis B flies in the face of evidence. [I]t assumes that we can accurately predict who has infection and who will be exposed in the future; we cannot.”

Jhaveri also noted that previous recommendations to target hepatitis vaccines toward babies of infected mothers failed to lower infection rates. He stated, “This is the lesson we learned prior to starting birth dose. The fact that this committee ignores our prior experience proves their agenda has nothing to do with the evidence.”

What about COVID-19 vaccines? The public’s trust in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines is declining. Part of the blame for this erosion can be attributed to poor communication by public-health specialists and governments. During the pandemic, no one was communicating clearly what was known and what was not known.

To remedy that situation, the authors of a recent Nature article suggest, “[C]ommunicating science, particularly about uncertainty, is challenging. Science communication is always a trade-off between simplicity and nuance. But there are data now to show that presenting the science in detail and saying clearly what we do and don’t know about scientific topics actually builds trust.” (Naddaf, M., et al., “Five years of COVID vaccines: how a breakthrough created a public-health crisis,” Nature, December 8, 2025).

Despite the public’s rising skepticism, the data show COVID-19 mRNA vaccines prevented approximately 2.5 million deaths between December 2020 and October 2024. Experts continue to report on the efficacy of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. (Bergeson, L., “mRNA COVID vaccines tied to drop in death rates for 4 years,” CIDRAP News, December 10, 2025). There also is no increased mortality risk because of the vaccines. (Chiang, G., “Four years on: No increased risk seen in COVID-19 mRNA vaccine recipients,” JAMA Network Open, December 11, 2025).

Nonetheless, Mr. Kennedy has described the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine as “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” In August 2025, he cancelled $500 million in funding and winding down the development of mRNA vaccines. (Fiore, K., “Pulling the Plug on mRNA Vaccine Developments Is ‘Reckless,’ Experts Say,” MedPage Today, August, 2025). This turn of events is especially unsettling given the major role mRNA vaccines are likely to play in preventing other viral infections. (LePage, M., “mRNA drugs could protect against almost any kind of viral infection,” Science Translational Medicine, August, 2025).

And, anti-vaxx forces continue to try to chip away at the use of these extraordinary vaccines. Even the FDA is increasing its attempt to restrict their use. In a November memo, Dr. Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, told his colleagues that the agency’s “career staff found that at least 10 children died because of receiving COVID-19 vaccination.” (Fausi, J., “FDA Vax Chief Jumped the Gun on Claims of Kid Deaths from COVID Shots,” MedPage Today, December 12, 2025). Subsequently, it was revealed that Dr. Prasad’s conclusions were bogus.

Calls to pull these vaccines from the market, however, seem to be getting louder. Just a few days ago, the Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a non-profit activist group founded by Mr. Kennedy and known for its anti-vaccine advocacy, filed a petition with the FDA (an agency Mr. Kennedy now oversees) alleging that the agency had violated its own rule when it licensed the vaccines. In the petition, CHD urged the agency to revoke all existing licenses granted to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.  

The forces for “the right” are growing stronger. Anti-vaxxers and the destroyers of trust in public health (“the might”) are winning some battles. But those on the side of science and restoring our nation’s health are gaining momentum. Many medical societies and public-health organizations, such as, the American College of Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Medicine, and Infectious Diseases Society of America have developed vaccine guidelines, and in some cases have banded together to fight the “forces of might.” (Szaba, L., “Doctor groups form united front against RFK Jr’s efforts to limit vaccine access,” CIDRAP News, December, 9, 2025).

I’m also heartened by polls that indicate the American public isn’t being duped by the forces of might. A sizeable majority of American adults are strong believers in the value and safety of vaccines; they do not believe that this administration’s vaccine actions are grounded in science. (Bergeson, L., “Survey suggest broad voter support shortly after 2024 US presidential election,” CIDRAP News, December 9, 2025). Importantly, they trust their healthcare providers.

My advice: continue to trust the recommendations of your doctors; they’re dedicated to doing what is right for their patients. And, don’t give up on the American public-health institutions. Historically, they’ve based all their decisions on science and have been champions for ensuring that the health and well-being of the American people is unexcelled. That time will come again. Science will out. Let’s hope it is soon.