The Atlantic
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How Fragile Is Our Vaccine Infrastructure?
Posted
December 5, 2024
Views
1,389
Likes
54
Comments
22
Engagement
5.47%
December 5, 2024
1,389
54
22
5.47%
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39:41Now PlayingAnti-vaccine sentiment is, more or less, as old as vaccines. When Cotton Mather promoted inoculations against smallpox in the 1720s, someone threw a firebomb through his window with a message attached: “Mather, you dog, Damn you, I’ll inoculate you with this.” Today's vaccines are as safe and effective as ever. So why, suddenly, is the anti-vax movement at the height of its power and influence?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is “the king of the anti-vaxxers,” says Atlantic senior editor Daniel Engber. But RFK Jr. isn’t alone. An array of nominees across the fringe-science belief spectrum appears ready to take the reins in Trump’s new administration.
In this episode, we discuss this disorienting moment, when antivaccine conspiracy theorists may soon be in charge of the agencies that fund, recommend, and research vaccines, with Engber and Arthur Allen, author of VaccinesThe Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver () . What levers could the antivaxxers in charge pull to disrupt vaccine distribution? How could they affect vaccine recommendations and research? And what happens if there is an outbreak? Ultimately, how fragile is the nation’s vaccine infrastructure?
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