CRUCIAL QUOTE
“What (Gov. Shapiro) is doing is playing this out over the airwaves for political purposes, just like what happened during COVID,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told Fox News on Saturday. “And this is why there’s such deep distrust in public health.”
Read more AI Is Driving Up Prices As Much As Tariffs, Fed Analysis Reveals
Key background
As health secretary, Kennedy has advocated for broad changes to federal vaccine policy and oversight. Kennedy has supported White House-driven efforts to reassess the U.S. childhood immunization schedule and to study environmental factors, including childhood shots, as causes of autism. Earlier this month, Kennedy stood in support as President Donald Trump directed the Department of Health and Human Services to explore splitting the combined MMR vaccine into three separate shots. Shapiro has accused Kennedy of spreading dangerous misinformation that puts children at risk. National surveys show vaccine views and trust in public health agencies are deeply divided along party lines. An April Politico poll shows Republicans are much more likely to doubt the science behind vaccines instead of saying the science is clear when compared to Democrats. A KFF poll from February, conducted in the weeks following the Trump administration’s announcement of changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule, showed public trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had plummeted.
Read more Here Are The Biggest Billionaire Donors In The Midterms—So Far
TANGENT
The timing of the backlash against Shapiro coincides with as major midterm races in Pennsylvania enter the home stretch, including a gubernatorial race. Shapiro’s Republican opponent, Stacy Garrity, has framed Shapiro’s public messaging as an attempt to introduce heavy-handed public health restrictions, rallying conservative voters against government intervention.
Read more U.S. Destinations Woo Canadians With Discounts Amid Trump’s Tariff War