Back in February, I wrote several posts about the appointment of a well known antivaxer to head up the US Health and Human Services agency. At the time, I was utterly gobsmacked that a once rational country could even consider such a thing, yet the head of state nominated him, and then he was passed by Congress to fill the role.

At the time I wrote: Maybe I’m writing overly pessimistically, but I really, seriously, didn’t think anyone in their right minds could possibly put this bloke in charge of health. I mean, how?

And over the last few days, we’ve seen the US Centre for Disease Control change its information on vaccines and autism to one favoured by RFK Jr – where suddenly ‘Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).’ has become ‘The claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.’ This flies in the face of all available evidence worldwide.

There are much smarter people than me around, so I’m happy to let them speak for the science.

You can find a really good post about it on Science Based Medicine here. It refutes every point on the now changed CDC website.

And still the US marches on, allowing a well known anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-fluoride activist to determine health policy. Why do I rabbit on about this? Because what comes out of the US publicly in terms of health and science has (very, very unfortunately) flow on effects throughout the world.

In addition, by deliberately undermining the work of decades and decades of dedicated health professionals to work on the eradication of communicable diseases, and in some cases communicable cancer, this may end up turning the US into a country where it is unsafe for vulnerable people to travel, or live.

From the perspective of someone living in a polio free, (mostly) measles free, diphtheria free, and (soon to be) HPV free country, the idea of visiting somewhere where vaccination is actively discouraged is quite bizarre – and if you think that isn’t the case, well I suspect you’re naive.

Already my social media contacts have discussed the difficulty accessing Covid vaccination. Which I can have at any pharmacy across the country. And have had every six months since it was available. In face, I’m just waiting for a couple of weeks to have another one, as I’ve just had my first Shingrix vaccine, and it was recommended to have a little gap. (And for the record, I had a really sore arm, a mild fever, and some fatigue. I have survived, and will have my second one in a few months. Much better that than shingles!)

So what will happen? Well, I suspect childhood vaccination rates in some parts of the US will slowly decline. I expect that the ongoing measles outbreak in the US will continue, particularly in under vaccinated populations. And for measles, that generally means that if the vaccination rate drops below 92%-94%, measles can take hold in the population. There are some places well below that. (Australia also has a few of those places.)

Why parents would choose to allow their children to suffer preventable disease is something I struggle to understand. But when the foremost health service in the land casts doubts on something, vulnerable people can fall victim to fear.

This is the stuff that’s turned upside down for me. Firstly, putting a well known conspiracist in charge of health. Secondly, undermining some of the greatest public health initiatives in history – prevention of disease by vaccination. It speaks volumes about the leadership of a once great nation.