00:04Trump's order moves COVID-19, influenza, rotavirus, meningitis, RSV, and hepatitis A and B vaccines
00:11from universal vaccination schedules. Some of these vaccines will continue to be recommended
00:16for children at a higher risk, while others will be given based on a decision between parents and
00:21their doctors. Decisions as such can have catastrophic consequences that would not end
00:26at the U.S. border, head of public health threats at European Medicines Agency, Marco Cavalleri said.
00:32You know, we're drawing important vaccination and key vaccination that we have available at the
00:37moment. It will be catastrophic from a public health perspective because it would mean the return
00:43of diseases that we were able to contain and delete from our countries and our jurisdiction
00:51thanks to vaccines that are very effective. Europe has already seen the consequences of
00:56falling vaccination coverage. Six countries, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Spain, the United Kingdom and
01:02Uzbekistan, have lost measles-free status following spikes in cases in 2024. We are already now seeing
01:09the return of measles whenever, you know, the vaccination coverage gets lower for whatever
01:14reason, including in Europe, and we will see more coming, unfortunately, in the United States and other
01:20part of the world. So really, the examples are already there, but it could get much worse. Just
01:26think about poliomyelitis. Do we want this to come back? Do we want to see our children, you know,
01:31living in an iron lung? I hope not. And we got a very effective vaccine, so we need to continue
01:37to push hard in making sure that our children get protected with proper vaccination.
01:44The White House decision also calls for the combined MMR vaccine, which protects against measles,
01:49mumps, and rubella to be split into three separate shots.
01:52There is no scientific basis to split these vaccines. All the scientific data that we have
01:58at hand, they are showing that the combination of these three different vaccines is safe and
02:04effective, convenient, ensure high coverage, and is very practical both for healthcare workers,
02:11but also importantly for children and parents that don't have to go through multiple visits,
02:15multiple punctures. And therefore, you know, with the risk that might be missing some vaccination,
02:22or some vaccination may get delayed with the risk that they get infected in the meanwhile.
02:27Health experts want the decision could further undermine vaccine confidence also in Europe.
02:31Steep decline in vaccine confidence are a worrying trend most notable in Eastern and Central Europe,
02:36according to the Commission's report in 2022.
02:38This type of decisions, unfortunately, could be very detrimental in terms of vaccine confidence,
02:45unless we really explain to people that there is no scientific basis and there is no reason to
02:52change what we have been doing successfully until now.
02:54In an interconnected world, falling vaccination coverage in one country can increase the risk of
02:59outbreaks elsewhere.
03:00These infectious diseases are causing global problems, global outbreaks, global epidemics.
03:06And so the more united we are and the more we work together,
03:10the better it's going to be in limiting the effect of the return of such infectious diseases.
Comments