Canadian doctors and scientists say Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shot of a Vaccination Advisory Committee South of the border is disturbing.
On Monday, the US Secretary for Health and Social Services – an anti -Vaccin long -standing defender – said that he would name new members to the scientific group who advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccination.
Angela Rasmussen, virologist of the University of Saskatchewan, said on Tuesday that this decision would favor more anti-vaccine beliefs, not only in the United States but also in Canada.
“This creates a culture in which anti-VAXX beliefs are more accepted and much less disputed. And this also creates an environment where there is an alternative to a recommendation framework based on evidence, “she said.
Even if Kennedy’s new appointments will make specific vaccine recommendations in the United States, any disinformation could also feed the hesitation in vaccines among Canadians, said Rasmussen.
“We have a lot of the same anti-vacuum feeling here. Admittedly, it will certainly be able to (that), “she said.
Rasmussen said that current measles epidemics in the two countries show the consequences of disinformation that leads parents not to immun their children against avoidable diseases.
She said Canada could also be reached if the new Committee brings back the vaccination recommendations back, as manufacturers can reduce production and this could cause shortages.
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“There is a lot of potential for access to vaccines really, really damaging in the United States and potentially in the world, because the American market has a big impact on what vaccine manufacturers will really make and manufactured,” she said.
“There are so many ways that it can end very badly for vaccination in general. And it really worries me. ”
Rasmussen said that the dismissal of members of the Advisory Committee is only the last of a series of anti-public health measures that Kennedy has taken.
“This is a death by a thousand cuts,” said Rasmussen, who is American and moved to Canada during the pandemic to work on the organization of vaccines and infectious diseases at the University of Saskatchewan.
The administration of the American president Donald Trump has already reduced billions of dollars in research subsidies at the National Institutes of Health.
In May, the administration canceled a contract with the Moderna mRNA vaccines manufacturer to develop a potential pandemic influenza vaccine, including H5N1 avian flu.
“It simply seems that there is a descending approach that considers mRNA vaccines in particular – vaccination in general, but mRNA vaccines in particular – with distrust and tries to dismantle this particular path of medical research,” said Dr. Jesse Papenburg, specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the children’s hospital.
Papenburg, who is a member of the national advisory committee of Canada on immunization but who did not speak on his behalf, said that although the cancellation of the modern contract and the dismissal of the members of the Advisory Committee for American Vaccines are two separate actions, they are both concerned while Canada is trying to prepare for the potential transmission of humans to H5N1.
“The two are potentially very dangerous with regard to America and the ability of the world to respond to emerging infectious diseases for which vaccines could be a useful medical counterfeit,” he said.
– with files from the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press