WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is canceling research into ways to improve vaccine trust and access. Large measles outbreak It is fueled to unvaccinated children.
Researchers with grants from the National Institutes of Health are studying why they are asking questions and fearing about vaccines, and how they are studying how to help people who want to get vaccinated overcome barriers.
The step first reported by the Washington Post, which cited dozens of expected cancellations, is quite unusual.
“It is NIH’s policy to not prioritize research activities that focus on gaining scientific knowledge about why individuals are Hesitant to get vaccinated Exploring the way To improve vaccine interest And commitment,” says the NIH letter sent to two researchers with different grants.
“That’s really bothering me,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who read aloud from two letters received by other scientists.
“That’s inaccurate. The vaccine clearly saves lives, there’s no doubt about its science,” O’Leary said. To better understand what parents want to learn from their pediatrician (or adult questions about their shots) is “actually improving care, not necessarily just vaccination rates.”
“You’re not saying you don’t study how people think about vaccines,” added Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association.
Some of the cancelled grants are the types that help fund the salaries of promising young researchers who can be threatened with careers, O’Leary said.
This is the latest move on vaccines since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the nation’s health secretary, directing the centers of the Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration, an agency that oversees the NIH. Kennedy has long been criticising the vaccine, but since taking a new post, he pledged to investigate shots to prevent measles, polio and other dangerous diseases, as well as a meeting between the CDC and FDA, an independent vaccine advisor. Postponed or cancelled.
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The Associated Press School of Health Sciences is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institution’s Science and Education Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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