A bipartisan group of health committee members from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives has sent a letter to colleagues urging support for vaccinations, the House Energy and Commerce Committee reported recently.
The action comes amid concerns that the Donald Trump Administration might form a panel to question the legitimacy of vaccines. During his presidential campaign, Trump met with a British physician who stirred controversy when he alleged in a Lancet article that there is a link between some vaccines and autism. The article was retracted.
“The introduction of vaccines was a turning point in our country’s public health history,” the panel wrote in its letter. “Vaccines led to the elimination of certain diseases, including polio and measles, from the United States.”
Uniting for the letter were Greg Walden (R-OR), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; ranking member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ); Michael Burgess, (R-TX), a health subcommittee chairman; Gene Green (D-TX), ranking member on the subcommittee; and Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-WA).
“In 2000, as a result of a vaccine, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) declared measles to be eliminated in the United States,” the letter read. “Vaccines are our first line of defense against infectious diseases, many of which have no treatment or can be life-threatening. As Members of Congress, we have a critical role to play in supporting the availability and use of vaccines to protect Americans from deadly diseases.”
