Col (Ret) John D. Gräbenstein, RPh, PhD, FAPhA, Managing Editor, IZ Express, Immunize.org
Why is there renewed uncertainty around vaccines?
Since my first work with vaccines in the 1980s, the research pipeline has steadily delivered an expanding portfolio of products to prevent truly terrible diseases. There are no vaccines to prevent trivial diseases. The time and resources needed to prove that a new vaccine benefits its recipients are just too daunting to pursue little fish. At the same time, we insist that vaccines be the safest of all medications, because they are given to healthy people to keep them healthy.
America's vaccine-delivery system got better and better over the past decades: Electronic registries to share information. Refrigerator monitors. Safety needles. Safety systems that link EHRs and can find needles in a haystack.
“That complexity means humanity’s armor against dangerous pathogens got thicker, steadily decreasing vulnerability to serious infections.”
Yes, the American vaccine schedule got more complex and the training to properly fulfill that schedule grew more intricate, too. That complexity means humanity’s armor against dangerous pathogens got thicker, steadily decreasing vulnerability to serious infections. Fewer and fewer people need to suffer, be hospitalized, or die prematurely. That’s a great thing!
Yet, in recent months there has been so much smoke and noise surrounding vaccines, casting doubt on well-understood accomplishments.
Fear not. We were right to build the world’s best vaccine-delivery system. Our patients—which is to say our friends and neighbors—benefited (and still benefit) from vaccines. Vaccines in a refrigerator have potential value. You change potential to immunity once you depress the plunger.
Notice what happened after HHS told CDC what to publish for its 2026 vaccine schedule. No children’s hospital adopted the HHS schedule. Not one. No state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics or other mainstream medical societies adopted the HHS schedule. Not one. No major health plan encouraged providers to use fewer vaccines. Not one. No journals retracted clinical trial results. Not one.
The science confirming the value of vaccination is unchanged. Out-of-pocket costs are unchanged. Liability protections and injury-compensation programs are unchanged (and better for plaintiffs than the previous system). Routine hepatitis B vaccination at birth remains a sound practice. Patient consent has always been required before vaccination, beginning with the very first dose—that has not changed.
“Fewer vaccinations mean more serious infections, more hospitalizations, more preventable deaths.”
Yes, check your state requirements. And work with your state association.
Fewer vaccinations mean more serious infections, more hospitalizations, more preventable deaths. More misery, more tears. It's not the measles rash that worries me, it’s measles pneumonia, measles encephalitis, and—tragically—measles death.
You've been a strong vaccine advocate for years. You're empathetic, you listen, you take the time to care. You give strong, clear recommendations to protect loved ones with immunity. Don't stop! Offer vaccines just as strongly as you did last year.