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ADA: Let CDC Review Vaccines For Safety And Effectiveness

ADA: Let CDC Review Vaccines For Safety And Effectiveness
by Jennifer Garvin

The ADA has asked President Trump to delegate the task of reviewing the safety and effectiveness of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

In an April 7 letter, ADA President Gary L. Roberts and Executive Director Kathleen T. O’Loughlin stressed that administering vaccines “is one of the most effective methods of preventing infectious diseases,” noting that the widespread use of vaccines has eradicated smallpox and significantly reduced incidences of polio, measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus and a host of other preventable diseases.

“Over time, vaccinations have saved countless lives and billions of dollars in medical costs,” Drs. Roberts and O’Loughlin wrote. “Unfortunately, American adults are less likely today than they were in 2001 to say vaccines are extremely important.”

The safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines were in the news in January, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an antivaccine activist, said that he was asked to chair a presidential commission to look into the safety of vaccines. However, a Trump spokesperson said that no decision has been made about setting up a vaccine commission or appointing Mr. Kennedy to chair it.

Drs. Roberts and O’Loughlin noted that credible science is more important than ever, as 9 percent of Americans believe vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they were designed to prevent — according to a 2015 Gallup poll on vaccines. This is due, they said, to “years of shoddy research, naïve media reporting, proclamations from celebrities and politicians with no medical or scientific background and an abundance of misinformation on the Internet.

Read full article on ADA.org.