According to a new one, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
This occurs while President Trump works to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization; During his first day in power, Trump signed an executive decree to start the process.
“The United States has been such an important partner in WHO, and fundamentally, health is the responsibility of the government of each country,” said Dr Katherine O’BrienDirector of the Department of Vaccination, Vaccines and Biologicals. “Who has no authority to go to a country or to ensure that countries do anything in particular. It is therefore really the place of discussion. And what is really difficult is not to have the United States at the table for these discussions.”
5 questions with the Dre Katherine O’Brien
What does the Trump administration ‘decision with the WHO mean in terms of the implementation of vaccines on the road?
“I’m just going to give you an example. Measles is a truly burning subject because it increases in the world, including in the United States, and the United States is a country that has eliminated measles.
“And what elimination means is that there is no measles in the United States unless it is imported from outside, as the United States has been great to deploy vaccines to protect the country from measles. What is happening now is that with imports, because the vaccination rate in the country is not enough to protect against measles from measles from one person to another, which is why externals occur in this country. “
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of health and social services, expressed his skepticism around vaccines. How do you work in an environment like this?
“It is really important to know if people get their information, that they get information based on evidence. We will be in a more sick and deadier world, unless the government of each country does everything it can to guarantee that vaccines in general are available for people in each community, everywhere easily, and especially that they provide information on the nature of diseases that vaccines prevent and that vaccines have an incredibly high safety standard that must be respected for vaccines.
How do you give meaning to the hesitation of vaccines right now?
“So we have this paradox, which is the very success of vaccines means that the diseases for which they are given are not commonly seen. People forget how sick and dead these diseases can be.
“And individuals make this compromise for themselves. But the problem with an individual compromise is that an individual decides in the context that these diseases are not very common in a country that has high coverage because everyone has participated in the program. When this ceases to happen, and that’s what we see now, we are starting to see epidemics of disease. We see children who have been hospitalized and, unfortunately, the worst result of all is, of course, the deaths that have been completely awake. ”
The Pandemic COVID-19 seems to have changed the way the American public reacts to vaccines or other health terms. Are there any things you want could have gone differently?
“I must say that there is probably no one who was part of the management of the pandemic who has not learned something from the experience. No one has understood perfectly.
“I think there was a lot of technical information that made people understand it difficult to understand. I also think that it is very difficult for people to accept that the recommendations, the advice would change over time.
“There is an anecdote that remains really with me, that is to say that many people said that it was their expectations that the vaccines were going to prevent people from being infected.
“Who did not say that to. There is something about what people want to hear and what evidence really say. And I just think that from the point of view of communication, we must all go better to communicate the known and the unknowns. ”
At this stage of 2025, what are you concerned the most?
“I am worried about going back. That we are going to be in a more sick and deadlter world. It will happen because the germs, the pathogens against which we do not vaccin, they are not political. They are not in favor. They will come back if there is no maintenance and improvement of the coverage of vaccines. It is the most important thing.”
This interview has been modified for more clarity.
James Perkins Mastromarino produces and published this interview to distribute with Micaela Rodríguez. Grace Griffin Adapted for the web.
This segment was broadcast on May 13, 2025.