Public Health expert Ed Belongia, MD, confirmed the efficacy of vaccines, affirming that “they've had an amazing, dramatic effect of saving hundreds of millions of lives.” He noted that the small pox vaccine, in particular, is “among the greatest public health achievements.” Dr. Belongia is a retired vaccine specialist who practiced at the Marshfield Clinic for nearly three decades and served on a prestigious national panel that reviewed vaccines for safety and effectiveness. The current administration fired all of the members of that committee and has prevented an already approved review of the COVID-19 vaccine that found it effective from being published.
Given the wildly successful history of vaccines, Dr. Belongia says “vaccine hesitancy” unfortunately, is more common today, partly because politics has entered the fact, and evidence-based world of science. Much of the misinformation was fueled by skepticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, that occurred even though Belongia says that COVID-19 vaccine was produced quickly and effectively, saving “many millions of lives.”
One of public health's greatest challenges is thwarting the efforts of anti-vaccine groups. Dr. Belongia says they are weaponizing public reporting systems designed to investigate problems people might be having with vaccines. He says our monitoring system works very well. but is now being impeded by anti-science activists.
After his presentation, Dr. Belongia urged everyone to discuss vaccine effectiveness with their family doctors to assure they are getting the protection necessary to remain healthy.