( ENSPIRE Perspective ) Katrinna Martin Bordeaux is a Registered Nurse and Chair of the National Action Network Health Committee
Op-Ed by Katrinna Martin-Bordeaux
As a mother of four, I understand wanting to make the best decisions for your children. As a registered nurse, I want to emphasize that vaccines are one of the safest and most effective tools we have for protecting our children from preventable diseases.
Working in intensive care, trauma, and critical care, I handle life-threatening and emergency cases. My work in intensive care has shown me how critically important preventative medicine is to the broader healthcare system. Preventative care helps catch and avoid preventable diseases and illnesses before they get to the point of emergency. Proper care could have prevented a patient’s illness, making it deeply tragic to treat them later. It is even worse when it is a child.
That’s why I’m concerned about how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy, is sowing doubt and confusion into widely accepted preventative care, specifically childhood immunization practices. The attack on decades of scientific evidence deeply concerns us for the well-being and health of our children.
As measles cases rise across the country, I have seen how devastating an outbreak can be. And while parents are just looking for reassurance on how to best protect their children, the very health officials who are supposed to provide it remain silent, or worse, continue to spread harmful misinformation.
At the beginning of this year, the HHS made unprecedented changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, rolling back years of consistent recommendations. Specifically, the HHS no longer universally recommends immunizations against RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, rotavirus, the flu, and two types of bacterial meningitis. I have seen and treated many of these diseases. It breaks my heart that parents who just want to protect their children are being thrown in the crosshairs of a political agenda. These unprecedented changes were made without rigorous scientific review or meaningful input from the medical community, and parents were given no logical justification for abandoning proven protections.
Research shows that over the past 50 years, vaccines have saved at least 154 MILLION lives. The American Academy of Pediatrics, endorsed by 12 other medical organizations, continues to recommend the vaccine schedule that the HHS significantly altered, standing firmly behind the evidence-based science that has protected generations of children. These recommendations aren’t political. They’re grounded in decades of peer-reviewed research and clinical experience.
Following the HHS’s drastic changes, the New York State Department of Health issued a powerful response, rejecting these changes and maintaining its recommendations. This is what strong leadership looks like: cutting through the confusion and ensuring parents hear from trusted voices.
New Yorkers deserve that leadership at home and in Washington. While medical community leaders are continuing to protect children and ensure access to vaccines, we cannot do this alone. Our federal legislators must put politics aside to stand with us and defend evidence-based medical research from dangerous political decisions. Democratic members are speaking up, but this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. We need the New York members of the Republican majority – including Reps. Nick LoLota and Mike Lawler – to put politics aside and speak out for the clear, science-backed recommendations parents deserve. Otherwise, it will be children across the country who pay the price.
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