David Miliband, former UK foreign secretary and current leader of the International Rescue Committee, warned that the increasing prevalence of alternative facts and the decline of public trust in medical authorities pose severe risks to global vaccination initiatives. He highlighted the potential repercussions of the US's changing political landscape under Donald Trump, particularly with appointments like Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. This anti-vaccine sentiment complicates the work of organizations like the IRC, which is crucial in delivering vaccines to children in conflict-affected areas, especially as they have recently achieved significant vaccination milestones in parts of Africa.
The information ecosystem has moved from one that is hyper-deferential to medical opinion ... to one where you can have your facts, or you can have your alternative facts, and that's a very dangerous situation.
Any rise in anti-vaccine sentiment may make the IRC's work harder. Vaccine sceptics frequently challenge authorities to prove negatives and you can't.
The IRC announced 8m vaccine doses had been given to children under five living in hard-to-reach parts of Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia.
Changes to how the US engages with the rest of the world will not only potentially hamper efforts to provide health services and humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable.
Collection
[
|
...
]