Politics of Vaccination: COVID and Measles (UPPER DUBLIN LIBRARY)

Why is acceptance or rejection of vaccines a partisan political decision for many Americans? And what can be done to decrease the spread of contagious diseases like COVID and measles?

Consider the recent rise in measles outbreaks. Take a look at an MSNBC video clip from July 25, 2025. https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/rfk-jr-makes-a-living-on-lawsuits-that-target-vaccines-brandy-zadrozny-on-hhs-measles-response-243140677575. (It runs 11:29. Wait for the ads to clear.) Ali Velshi and Brandy Zadrozny report that there have been at least 1,233 confirmed cases of measles spread across 39 states. They say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is weakening confidence in vaccines and public health programs more generally. He recently claimed measles vaccine effectiveness weakens over time and that vitamins, should be considered as alternatives. Medical scientists and public health officials are outraged because the safety and effectiveness of measles vaccines have been confirmed again and again. Vaccine conspiracy theories have been decisively debunked. Anti-vax activism and misinformation that was once spread primarily on social media are now becoming U.S. government policy.

A 2023 scientific study of how declining trust in government during the Trump and Biden administrations may have led to declining trust in public health expertise and refusal to take COVID vaccines when they became available in January 2021. By September 2021, 90% of Democrats were vaccinated vs. 58% of Republicans. The scientific paper is available here, but I suggest you skip the technical details and read just the abstract, introduction, and conclusion sections. "Political Ideology and Trust in Government to Ensure Vaccine Safety" is available here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10002444/.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, April 4, 2025, investigated what is likely to happen if immunization rates for measles, COVID, and other diseases drop further over a prolonged period of time. Read a summary of “Measles May Be Making a Comeback in the U.S” by researchers at Stanford University. The link is here: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/04/measles-vaccination.html

Some questions to consider:

• How did earlier anti-vaccine movements weaken trust in current vaccines? How are today’s anti-vax activists different?
• Are the reasons for rejection of measles vaccines different from COVID vaccines? Why?
• Why are the CDC’s and FDA’s leading vaccine experts being fired by RFK Jr.?
• Are anti-vax activists motivated by profit-seeking liability lawyers who sue pharmaceutical companies?
• Has loss of confidence in the federal government led to loss of faith in experts more generally, or more specifically in public health or vaccine policy?
• Why do you think more Democrats were vaccinated for COVID than Republicans?