FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media Relations
Statement from APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD
The five-year anniversary of the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic is an opportunity for reflection. The disease resulted in millions of deaths, millions more suffered sickness and long-term complications and it dramatically altered life for people around the nation, and world.
We were amazed by the ability of scientists to develop safe and effective vaccines at record speed and the dedicated efforts of health care workers, public health professionals and others to care for the sick and vaccinate people in all communities to keep them safe and eventually get COVID-19 under control.
Along with a continued lack of resources and commitment to public health, the distrust for science and rampant spread of misinformation made the tragedy of COVID-19 much worse than it should have been. Unfortunately, the situation hasn’t improved.
As the recent measles outbreak in Texas has demonstrated, the public has been misled to question the safety and benefits of approved vaccines, leading to needless and preventable harm to more than 200 people, mostly children and teens, and the death of one child. And the outbreak isn’t yet contained. Measles had been declared to be eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but low vaccination rates provided an opportunity for this outbreak.
To prevent needless suffering and loss of life in the future, we must rebuild trust in science — including trust in life-saving vaccines. Everyone has a role to play, but the federal government needs to lead the way with essential funding for research, analyzing and approving drugs as safe and effective, tracking and identifying health trends, developing science-based guidance and sharing key health information for the public to make critical health decisions. At the same time, federal, state, local and tribal leaders and health professionals must all work together to build trust by being open and honest about what science tells us and not raising needless doubt by spending time and effort researching things that have already been debunked, like a supposed link between vaccines and autism.
We can create a nation ready to respond to disease outbreaks and where everyone has an opportunity to live their best, healthiest life, but we must work together to learn from the past, prepare for the future and promote evidence-based policies.
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The American Public Health Association champions optimal, equitable health and well-being for all. With our broad-based member community and 150-year perspective, we influence federal policy to improve the public’s health. Learn more at www.apha.org.