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The Biggest Threat to Vaccine Confidence in the US: An Expert Discussion
Amesh Adalja, MD, urges physicians to use their trusted position to counter widespread vaccine misinformation and strengthen patient confidence in immunization.
What do you see as the most urgent threat to public trust in vaccines today? And how can primary care physicians (PCPs) help combat it?
That is a question Patient Care editors asked infectious disease physician and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security senior scholar Amesh Adalja, MD. In honor of August being National Immunization Awareness month, Dr Adalja sat down with Patient Care to discuss key updates in immunization ahead of the respiratory virus season. In the video above, Dr Adalja discusses how antivaccine rhetoric is influencing public opinion, and why PCPs must be prepared to counter misinformation with science and clarity.
Amesh Adalja, MD, is an adjunct assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and founder of Tracking Zebra, an infectious disease-related project management, consulting, media, and strategy firm.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for style and clarity.
Patient Care: What do you see as the most urgent threat to public trust in vaccines today? And how can PCPs help address it or combat it?
Dr Adalja: The biggest threat to confidence in vaccines right now is the Secretary of Health and Human Services—it's RFK Jr. You have an antivaccine advocate at the highest level of power over health policy in the United States. Since taking office, he has tried to make life very difficult for the vaccine industry through the decisions he's made, the people he's appointed, and the misinformation he continues to spread—even in the midst of a record-breaking measles outbreak.
The biggest challenge we face is that the antivaccine movement now has political power in a way it never had before. That’s always going to be a problem, because he has the ability to control the debate in a way no anti-vaccine advocate could have ever dreamed of. We’re going to be constantly facing misinformation coming from the highest levels of government, and that’s a serious challenge.
It’s going to take a lot of courage from doctors, especially PCPs who are on the front lines of this battle. They have to recognize that reason, logic, and science are on their side, and what they’re fighting against is the voice of the Dark Ages.
