Offering a startlingly candid view into the philosophy guiding vaccine recommendations under the Trump administration, the leader of the federal panel that recommends vaccines for Americans said shots against polio and measles — and perhaps all diseases — should be optional, offered only in consultation with a clinician.
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who is chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said that he did have “concerns” that some children might die of measles or become paralyzed with polio as a result of a choice not to vaccinate. But, he said, “I also am saddened when people die of alcoholic diseases,” adding, “Freedom of choice and bad health outcomes.”
In the case of an infectious disease, a personal choice to decline a vaccine may also affect others, including infants who are too young to be vaccinated or people who are immunocompromised. But a person’s right to reject a vaccine supersedes those risks, Milhoan said.
“If there is no choice, then informed consent is an illusion,” he said. “Without consent it is medical battery.”
The polio and measles vaccines are widely acknowledged as staggering successes in public health, credited with preventing disability and millions of deaths worldwide. The polio vaccine in particular has strong bipartisan support, including from President Donald Trump and some Republican lawmakers, who have invoked the horrific time before the vaccine was available.
But Milhoan said that making the vaccines optional, rather than requiring them for entry into public schools nationwide, as is now the case, would ultimately restore trust in public health.
Outside experts had sharp words for Milhoan, saying the changes in vaccine policy he was suggesting would result in unnecessary deaths among children.
“He has no idea what he’s talking about,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“These vaccines protect children and save lives,” O’Leary said. “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.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on Milhoan’s views.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.