Since January, billions of dollars have been cut from numerous institutions leading scientific research and public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our nation’s preeminent public health organization, faces monumental threats.
- In June, Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. Members were replaced with his own picks.
- In August, after only a few weeks in her role, CDC Director Susan Monarez was removed from her post. As a result, several high-level CDC officials resigned.
- In late August, the Food and Drug Administration provided guidance for COVID vaccines, placing significant restrictions on who can receive it.
- Secretary Kennedy appointed five new members to CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, including individuals who have been critical of the COVID-19 vaccine and have pushed back on coronavirus vaccine mandates.
Public health and science are under attack. Vaccines have helped make some of the most significant public health advancements in modern human history. Without evidence-based decisions and policies, we risk undoing this monumental progress.
A patchwork** approach can cause greater harm.
The beginning of respiratory virus season is upon us, and COVID-19 rates are increasing. Misinformation is paving the way for the trifecta of COVID-19, RSV, and flu to become more widespread and cause irreversible harm. Compounding this issue are federal and state policies that reject science and practice, causing varied and opposing state-level responses to public health issues such as vaccine access. Recently, Florida announced it will phase out childhood vaccine mandates in the state, while other states on the east and west coasts are initiating regional collaboratives to advance vaccine availability.
Absent federal leadership, public health responsibility is shifting to state and local community leadership.
We applaud the swift actions taken by multiple states to ensure their residents can access vaccines. To prevent more harm, we must act now and support vaccine initiatives and collaborations at the local community level to ensure that all residents have access to vaccines.
HRiA has partnered with hundreds of community, faith, and tribal organizations to assess and support the interventions communities relied on to mitigate the spread and impact of COVID. Two of these initiatives – the Vaccine Equity Project funded by the CDC in partnership with the National Network of Public Health Institutes, and the MA COVID-19 Community Grants program funded by the MA Department of Public Health – produced powerful insights and community-driven strategies that must be at the heart of any vaccine efforts. We must ensure that community-based strategies are rooted in equity, trust, and the lived experiences of those most impacted. These learnings include:
Partnerships
Public health and community organizations must work in partnership. As trusted messengers, local organizations have built deep relationships within communities and are able to share important health information and resources in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways. When the ideas and perspectives of diverse communities are paired with sound public health information, multiple voices are heard, and effective approaches are used to address community needs.
Communications
Accurate and timely information for diverse audiences across multiple channels is critical, especially for harder to reach populations. Factual and consistent messages enable individuals to make informed decisions for their own health and that of their loved ones.
Resources
Vaccines should be available and accessible to everyone at no cost or covered by insurance. To reach the broadest number of people, vaccines must be available and accessible at the local level, in and near the places where people live, work, recreate, and worship. This could include “co-locating” vaccine events with health screenings, food distribution, faith community events, and other initiatives.
Policy
State and local leaders have a responsibility to develop policies based on science. The multi-state collaboratives mentioned above are focused on developing evidence-based recommendations on vaccinations, disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, and supporting state public health labs. To ensure maximum impact, these policies should also include funding and solutions identified and supported by the communities most impacted. In early September, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced a series of immediate measures to ensure that vaccines remain available and accessible to Massachusetts residents of all ages by requiring insurance carriers in the state to continue to cover vaccines recommended by the state health department and taking steps to ensure that residents who want to receive the COVID vaccine can do so at pharmacies.
For the health of our collective future, we must come together.
Decades of public health practice grounded in science has shown that access to affordable and effective vaccines minimizes the impact of illness and disease. The field of public health is being politicized by partisan rhetoric and decimated by significant funding cuts. If we continue down this path, our health infrastructure will be compromised and so, ultimately, will the health of individuals in communities across the nation. To address this challenge, we support:
- Public health leaders whose decisions and actions are informed by science and sound public health practice.
- Funding scientific research and our public health infrastructure.
- Initiatives and collaborations at the regional and local community level to ensure that all residents have access to vaccines.
- Partnering with communities to align approaches and messaging.
- Removing barriers to access, such as requiring insurers to cover the cast of vaccines and creating low-barrier ways for people to obtain vaccines.
**https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/covid-19-state-vaccine-access-flu