Re: “Disbelief, worry from UW doctor after vaccine panel ouster” (June 16, A1):
Dr. Steve Pergam, medical director of infection prevention at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, is so right when he said that “we are the envy of most countries in how we address these policies …” He referred to the work that the experts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices did to give us a COVID-19 vaccine.
People had a choice to take the vaccine or not in most cases, but at least we had the choice in this country. We have dear friends in Canada who were not so lucky because Canada did not have the expertise or infrastructure to make vaccines. Our friends in Canada told us they were worried as they waited for another country to provide vaccines to Canada. And our friends said they wanted the vaccines that were made in and vetted in America by our experts.
Since the Republican Party put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in place as U.S. Health Secretary, the experts on the ACIP are being dismissed. Will there be objectivity or expertise left in our once most-valued and trusted public health agencies? I guess it’s now our turn to worry.
Leslee Shanahan, Shoreline
