This student story was published as part of the 2025 NASW Perlman Virtual Mentoring Program organized by the NASW Education Committee, providing science journalism experience for undergraduate and graduate students.
Story by Itzel Lazcano
Mentored and edited by Jackie Rocheleau
Known for his anti-vaccine activism, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has introduced a wave of changes that threaten to undo decades of infectious disease prevention. He has led efforts to remove recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations for children and pregnant people and called for a review of the childhood vaccine schedule. But what does the science say about these changes to pediatric vaccine policies?
Vaccines protect children from life-threatening infectious diseases, and decades of research attest to their success. They train the immune system to recognize disease-causing germs or pathogens. Traditional vaccines introduce weakened or inactivated pieces of the pathogen called antigen to the body’s immune system, while a more recent type uses mRNA material that contains instructions for making a recognizable protein on a virus. By exposing the body to antigens or mRNA rather than the pathogen itself, vaccines train the immune system to recognize pathogens and produce proteins called antibodies that target them. Once exposed to the actual pathogen, the immune system can respond quickly. Sometimes, people experience flu-like symptoms after vaccinations, which are typical signs that the immune system is responding to the vaccine and building protection. Vaccinating a majority of a population limits disease spread, a phenomenon called herd immunity. Such immunity helps protect those who cannot receive vaccines, or immuno-compromised individuals.
Vaccines are both effective and safe, undergoing some of the most rigorous development processes in medicine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration only approves vaccines for the public after extensive studies in animals and several phases of clinical trials to test vaccine safety and efficacy in humans. Even after approval, the agency continues monitoring vaccine safety.
One of the clearest examples of the success of widespread vaccinations is the measles vaccine. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, millions of measles cases, and hundreds of deaths, from the disease were reported each year. After medical organizations recommended a second dose of the vaccine for children around 1990, cases declined sharply. According to the World Health Organization, vaccination prevented 60 million measles deaths between 2000 and 2023. All 50 states require that children attending school receive vaccines for the measles, as part of the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. This requirement helps maintain herd immunity in the wider community.
However, misinformation about vaccines, including discredited studies claiming the MMR vaccine leads to autism, has threatened confidence in vaccines in some communities. Large-scale studies across the globe have found no evidence linking vaccines to autism or chronic illness. Mild side effects such as soreness and fever are common, but serious adverse events remain rare. Ongoing safety monitoring by federal agencies helps ensure that scientists and physicians have data to determine steps to reduce those risks even further.
Despite the science supporting vaccination, Kennedy has imposed his vaccine skepticism on federal policy. He has replaced members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with vaccine-skeptic voices, called for a review of the well-established childhood vaccine schedule, and excluded children and pregnant people from COVID-19 vaccination recommendations.
Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC and current CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told PBS News that the announcement did not provide data or rationale to support the decision. Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated it will continue to publish its own vaccine schedule, independent of ACIP, according to the Associated Press.
But the consequences of Kennedy’s influence are starting to emerge. “I’ve already seen an increase in questions from parents about whether certain vaccines are truly necessary, especially with the new school year approaching,” said Jason Lim, a retail pharmacist at a Costco Pharmacy in Illinois. “If these trends continue, we’re going to see diseases we thought were gone making a comeback, putting kids at risk in schools and communities.” For example, since January, a measles outbreak in West Texas has risen to over 760 cases, mostly in children and those without any dose of the measles vaccine.
The shifts in U.S. vaccine policy represent a critical crossroads for pediatric infectious disease prevention. As a new school year begins and families weigh changing recommendations, the United States’ long-standing success in controlling vaccine-preventable diseases may face its most serious test yet.
Writer bio: Itzel Lazcano is a Ph.D. candidate at Rush University studying antiretroviral-induced comorbidities. Her research investigates how tenofovir-based antiretroviral therapy contributes to diseases such as osteoporosis and obesity by disrupting hormonal signaling between bone and adipose tissue. Find her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/itzellazcano/
Mentor bio: Jackie Rocheleau is an independent science journalist and editor covering the life sciences and medicine with a particular focus on the brain. Follow her on Bluesky @JackieRocheleau.bsky.social.
Top image: Toddler receiving a vaccine in his arm by SELF Magazine, CC BY 2.0
The NASW Perlman Virtual Mentoring program is named for longtime science writer and past NASW President David Perlman. Dave, who died in 2020 at the age of 101 only three years after his retirement from the San Francisco Chronicle, was a mentor to countless members of the science writing community and always made time for kind and supportive words, especially for early career writers.
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