Last month, the board of directors of a regional public health department in Idaho voted to prohibit its department from providing Covid-19 vaccines to residents of six counties. This decision follows a worrying trend in which anti-vaccine beliefs influence public health decisions that will have serious consequences for citizens. Previously, policy makers in Texas banned health departments from promoting COVID-19 vaccines. Surgeon General of Florida also publicly recommended against the COVID-19 vaccine in 2023.

As reported by AP Newsit appears to be the first regional health department in the country to be barred from administering COVID vaccines.

At the meeting, Dr. Perry Jansen, a district physician who gave a presentation before the vote, tried to convince the board to continue offering the vaccine, emphasizing that the vote was not a mandate to vaccination but would give citizens a choice.

“We really serve as a safety net for people who can’t get health care otherwise, largely because of their finances,” Jansen says. told the board of directors. “We are able to offer free and discounted services to people who cannot access them through private care.”

But Southwest District Health board members decided, by a 4-3 vote, to no longer offer the vaccines. Public health experts call the decision devastating.

“It breaks my heart, local public health departments are one of the most trusted sources of health information for communities,” Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and author of the Your Local newsletter, told Salon Epidemiologist. “They also act as a safety net for vaccine accessibility and affordability, given that one in three Americans do not have a primary health care provider.”

She added that such a trend is “an incredibly slippery road to take.”

In 2021, mRNA technology – then new – made it possible to develop an effective vaccine in record time. Yet what the scientific community considered a historic moment for biotechnology has transformed into a polarizing debate among U.S. lawmakers drawn to conspiracy theories and misinformation, marking a crucial turning point for the anti-vaccine movement.

Typically, misinformation about vaccines doesn’t appear out of nowhere. There’s usually some truth to all of this, and misinformation persists because it lacks context. Even if some have experienced very rare situations side effects vaccines, such as inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), they only happens to a small percentage of people. COVID vaccines are considered extremely safe.

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Yet a significant number of Americans remain wary of COVID-19 vaccines. According to a survey published in the journal Vaccine:35% of adults said they do not trust Covid-19 vaccineswithout much variation between 2021 and 2023. Growing mistrust of vaccines is causing hesitation among parents vaccinate their children to people who don’t understand vaccinated for fear of loss of fertility. Notably, there is a partisan divide between those who trust and those who distrust vaccines. Counties that voted Republican had many more deaths from COVID than counties that voted Democratic, in part because of reduced vaccination rates.

What’s happening in Idaho is part of a broader attack on public health. In 2023, state lawmakers introduced House Bill 154, which would make administering an mRNA vaccine a crimeeffectively criminalizing most COVID vaccines. (Some, like Novavax, are not based on mRNA.) The bill is still waiting. Idaho also has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, causing an OB-GYN desert as reproductive health workers leave the state in droves.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the latest news out of Idaho is “further evidence of how politics and tribal mindsets have influenced control of communicable diseases.

“Local state health departments routinely provide vaccinations in their jurisdictions; these are often places where individuals can find travel-related vaccines, seasonal vaccines and routine childhood immunizations,” he said. “Health departments will administer vaccines, there is no rational reason to exclude COVID-19 vaccinations. »

This week, President-elect Donald Trump selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, vaccines could come under further attack at the federal level, as Kennedy has a history of vaccine skepticism and regularly promoting debunked claims about vaccines, including COVID vaccines.

Jetelina told Salon that there are many reasons why COVID vaccines have been under intense scrutiny and surrounded by misinformation since the pandemic.

“Including vaccine mandates, misinformation campaigns and, most importantly, the frustration that people are unable to find answers to their questions in a timely and understandable manner,” she said . Fewer Americans have kept up with their COVID vaccinations. Only about 28% of Americans received updated shots last yeara drop from 69% when the first round of vaccines was released.

Jetelina said it’s important for the public to know that COVID vaccines are still recommended and necessary.

“COVID-19 vaccines are needed once a year, especially for people over 65, as this virus continues to mutate,” she said. “COVID-19 vaccines are safer than the disease itself and provide additional protection year after year. »