A group of two dozen public health leaders for major U.S. municipalities signed a letter published Monday, stating their united stance on supporting vaccinations and denouncing “repeated false claims” coming from federal officials.
Published by the Big Cities Health Coalition, the letter was signed by the public health directors, commissioners and chief public health officers of places including Chicago, Los Angeles County, Boston, Seattle, Baltimore and Cleveland.
“As leaders of the nation’s largest local health departments, collectively serving nearly 50 million people across America’s cities, we are committed to providing our communities with every opportunity to support and improve health. We are united behind a simple message: get vaccinated,” the letter said.
CNN was first to report on the letter.
Since being confirmed, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken actions that have limited access to certain vaccines.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed a spate of recommendations reducing the cohorts for whom the COVID-19 vaccines are indicated for and voted against recommending flu vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.
“Vaccination rates are declining in many parts of the United States, and deadly outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio are becoming more frequent,” the local health leaders wrote. “We are deeply troubled by the repeated false claims about vaccines from too many federal officials, which have contributed directly to these trends. We are equally concerned about recent changes to the recommended childhood and adult immunization schedules that unnecessarily limit access to vaccines.”
“It is imperative that federal health leaders follow the lead of pediatricians and medical researchers and support vaccination to protect our children, families, and communities,” they added.
In the face of new federal guidance, Democrat-led states have created their own health alliance to issue guidance and share data independent of the federal government. Major medical societies like the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics have similarly issued guidance breaking with the federal government.
