Dear HIFA and CHIFA colleagues,
Please retweet this post on X if you agree. It is my response to a post on X by Dr Tedros (below).
https://x.com/hifa_org/status/2087792269524893816
Every parent needs access to reliable information on vaccines and protection from misinformation. The US administration denies parents this right - it also makes it harder for parents to protect their child from vaccine-preventable illnesses. https://hifa.org/join @who (NPW)
Dr Tedros wrote:
Every parent wants to keep their children safe, and vaccines are among the most powerful tools for doing that, making deadly diseases preventable.
@WHO is concerned that recent changes to US immunization policy are not aligned with decades of evidence that show when children are most vulnerable to disease, when vaccines provide the strongest protection, how many doses are needed, and which vaccines can be given together safely.
That evidence is reviewed continuously as new data emerge from across the globe. The current evidence is unequivocal: vaccines - including the MMR vaccine - are safe and do not cause autism.
Delaying vaccines or separating doses unnecessarily does not make vaccination safer and can leave children unprotected.
Global evidence and recommendations, including from @WHO, inform national experts, who consider local disease patterns, health systems and population needs, to determine which vaccines and schedules are best for their country.
Vaccination policy should be guided by rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science, not by political influence.
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HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org