Anti-vaxxers gain power on right, triggering new fears

Public health experts are growing increasingly concerned about a rise in anti-vaccination rhetoric among elected officials and right-wing media as a new wave of coronavirus infections begins to wash over Americans who have yet to get vaccinated.

Legislators in more than 40 states have introduced measures to bar vaccine passports, and many Republican governors have signed executive orders or laws barring their use.

In some cases, Republican governors and legislators are now repeating far-right talking points questioning the safety and effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines, in spite of the overwhelming scientific evidence that the vaccines developed in the past year are some of the safest and most effective ever created.

Public health experts were especially alarmed earlier this week when Tennessee’s Department of Health fired Michelle Fiscus, the state’s top vaccine official, after the state legislature raised concerns about public health guidance she issued for teenagers seeking to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

“It’s shocking. It’s not shocking that we had a fringe group that’s anti vaccine. That’s been true since the first vaccine,” said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It is shocking to me that people who are representing the public and the health and well-being of the public are choosing to take this dramatic anti-science stance.”