Head of US vaccine panel proposes end of vaccine mandates for polio, measles
Rejecting decades of scientific consensus, the man in charge of vaccine recommendations in the United States says polio and measles vaccines, and maybe those for other diseases, should be optional.
Appearing on the “Why Should I Trust You?” podcast, Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist and chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, acknowledged that some children might die or be paralyzed by polio if they were not vaccinated.
But “I am also saddened when people die of alcoholic diseases,” he said. “Freedom of choice and bad health outcomes.”
Milhoan’s comments were first reported Friday by The New York Times.
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Among children born from 1994 to 2023, routine childhood vaccinations have prevented nearly 1.3 million deaths, according to the CDC.
While Milhoan’s opinions won’t necessarily find their way into federal policy, they carry enormous weight at a time when public health officials appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are questioning longstanding conclusions by the scientific community. Former officials interviewed last fall by Straight Arrow News said Kennedy has installed leaders in health agencies who promote unsound scientific theories, disregard expert findings and dispense poorly conceived medical advice.
Echoing Kennedy, Milhoan said polio and measles are not the threats they once were because of improvements in medicine and sanitation, not just vaccines.
However, the large majority of medical professionals disagree. They say vaccines are the main reason both viruses have been all but wiped out in the U.S.
“These vaccines protect children and save lives,” Dr. Sean O’Leary, who chairs the infectious disease committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics, told The Times. “It’s very frustrating for those of us who spend our careers trying to do what we can to improve the health of children to see harm coming to children because of an ideological agenda not grounded in science.”
What did Milhoan say?
During the podcast, Milhoan said that he believed a person’s choice to refuse a vaccine outweighed the risks associated with a lower vaccination rate.
“If there is no choice, then informed consent is an illusion,” he said. “Without consent it is medical battery.”
He also said making vaccines optional for public schools would restore trust in public health, The Times reported. He said his comments were “pulling back the curtain” on vaccine risks.
In follow-up texts between Milhoan and The Times, he expanded on his view that personal freedom was vital. He stated that the vaccine committee may “not necessarily” recommend all vaccines be optional. However, he noted that the committee is charged with “re-evaluating all of the vaccine products” and may make significant changes this year.
The committee has already reduced the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. It recommended that people should only get those six dropped vaccines under “shared clinical decision making,” or following a consultation with a health care provider.
Milhoan stated that he had seen data showing a “very large death signal in children” from the COVID-19 vaccine. He referenced a Food and Drug Administration report not yet made public, stating the vaccine caused at least 10 deaths.
A study published by the National Institutes of Health in 2022 estimated that the COVID-19 vaccine saved at least 14.4 million lives worldwide.
But Milhoan said there were new concerns that repeatedly stimulating the immune system with vaccines could increase risks of allergies, asthma and eczema.
He told the podcast’s hosts he was basing his position on his personal observations rather than on “established science.”
What does the research say?
The polio and measles vaccines are regarded as among the biggest success stories in modern medicine. Doctors credit them with preventing the deaths of millions and even more disabilities.
President Donald Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have both publicly supported the polio vaccine. Both lived through a time when the virus’ effects were still very visible. McConnell contracted the disease at age 2, more than a decade before a vaccine became widely available in the 1950s. His unsteady gait betrayed the lingering effects of the disease over the decades since.
For now, states and insurance companies follow the previous vaccination schedule, which medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics still endorse. Every state still requires vaccinations against most of the 17 diseases — including polio and measles — before parents can enroll their children in public school.
Parents can get vaccine exemptions for medical or other reasons, such as religious beliefs. Some states are expanding the kinds of exemptions allowed.
On the podcast, Milhoan described vaccine requirements for school enrollment as “authoritarian.”
“What we are doing,” he said, “is returning individual autonomy to the first order — not public health but individual autonomy to the first order.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
