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Speaker 1: Welcome to Willness, un Mass. I'm doctor Nicole Saffire and

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Speaker 1: this is your weekly rundown. We're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: something that is creating a lot of confusion right now,

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Speaker 1: and frankly, it really shouldn't be this complicated. Vaccines. I

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Speaker 1: know we've talked about it before, but it just keeps

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Speaker 1: coming up over and over in the news cycle. A

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Speaker 1: federal judge has now blocked RFK Junior's attempt to overhaul

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Speaker 1: the childhood vaccine schedule that was put forth by the CDC,

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Speaker 1: not because of the science, but because of how it

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Speaker 1: was done. The court is saying the process didn't follow

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Speaker 1: the rules. So for now we're reverting back to the

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Speaker 1: prior CDC recommendations, the one before President Trump came to

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Speaker 1: the White House and before RFK Junior was Secretary of AHHS.

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Speaker 1: Here's the problem. The public doesn't necessarily follow the legal nuance.

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Speaker 1: They follow headlines and what people are hearing is something's changed,

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Speaker 1: something got reversed, maybe something isn't safe. That kind of

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Speaker 1: mixed messaging erodes trusts, and we are seeing the consequences

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Speaker 1: happen in real time. We are already with declining vaccination

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Speaker 1: rates in certain communities and now we're seeing measles cases

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Speaker 1: rise again. Yes, all the kids who are getting measles

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Speaker 1: right now, that's not a direct reflection of RFK Junior

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Speaker 1: changing anything on the vaccine schedule in the last year.

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Speaker 1: The reality is vaccination rates have been declining since twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: yes before COVID, but I can tell you right now

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Speaker 1: they're certainly not getting any better, They're getting worse, and

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Speaker 1: the messaging is mixed and confusing. This isn't just the

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Speaker 1: US issue. We're seeing a rise in measles in Mexico, Canada,

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Speaker 1: throughout North America, and we're also hearing about reports in

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Speaker 1: the UK that there are meningitis causes increases. Meningitis is

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Speaker 1: another communical disease, bacterial meningitis, specifically that we in the

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Speaker 1: United States recommend that adolescents get the vaccine for as

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Speaker 1: they congregate in college dorm rooms because that's one of

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Speaker 1: the most commonplaces for it to spread. Well, the UK

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Speaker 1: is reporting they're seeing a rise in cases of this

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Speaker 1: specific back seria meningitis, which is usually eradicated with vaccination,

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Speaker 1: but gaps in vaccine coverage they're now seeing rises in

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Speaker 1: that can we be seeing rises in this in the

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Speaker 1: United States as kids go to college in the fall.

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Speaker 1: I really hope not. It's devastating disease with devastating consequences.

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Speaker 1: But we have to be very clear here. When vaccination

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Speaker 1: rates go down, preventable diseases come back. That's not political,

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Speaker 1: that's epidemiology, that's reality. And at the same time, Americans

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Speaker 1: are also making something else clear. They want transparency, they

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Speaker 1: want choice, and they want to make decisions alongside their doctors,

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Speaker 1: not to be told what to do by shifting policies

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Speaker 1: or unclear messaging. And those two things can actually coexist.

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Speaker 1: We can support medical freedom and maintain strong evidence based recommendations.

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Speaker 1: That only works if public health leaders communicate clearly, consistently,

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Speaker 1: and honestly. Right now, we're not there, and patients are

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Speaker 1: caught in the middle. The bottom line is this vaccine's

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Speaker 1: one of the most effective tools we have to prevent

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Speaker 1: serious illness. That's true. But if we continue to send

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Speaker 1: mixed signals, we risk losing the public's trust entirely, and

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Speaker 1: once that has gone, it's very hard to get back. Now,

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Speaker 1: the reality is I did think the original CDC vaccine

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Speaker 1: schedule was somewhat bloated. I thought we could scale back

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Speaker 1: on certain things. Some of the things the RFK Junior

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Speaker 1: and has done, you know, I wasn't staunchly opposed to,

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Speaker 1: but the way that it has been communicated makes it

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Speaker 1: seem that changes are being done because they found new

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Speaker 1: evidence showing it's not safe or it's not effective, and

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Speaker 1: that's just not true. So for me, it's been the

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Speaker 1: messaging that has been the failure when it comes to

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Speaker 1: some of these changes. I think we need to have open,

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Speaker 1: honest discussions, and it can't just be RFK Junior's CDC

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Speaker 1: is unilaterally making these changes and the American Academy of

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Speaker 1: Pediatrics or the American Medical Association are staunchly opposed to them,

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Speaker 1: because that sends a bad message to the public. We

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Speaker 1: have to be working with our counterparts, and that hasn't

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Speaker 1: been happening right now, at least when it comes to

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Speaker 1: the vaccine. They are working with them with the dietary

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Speaker 1: stuff and other things. So unfortunately, I don't think that

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Speaker 1: what's been going on in the last year with the

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Speaker 1: vaccines under RFK Junior CDC has been communicated effectively. I

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Speaker 1: really hope that moving forward we can do this in

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Speaker 1: a better manner. To try and get more people on board,

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Speaker 1: less people confuse, and we really tackle some of the

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Speaker 1: public health emergencies that we're seeing in real time. Measles

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Speaker 1: cases is the most glaringly obvious example. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for listening. I'm doctor Nicole Sapphire. This has been your

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Speaker 1: weekly rundown. Please listen to Wellness sun Mass with Doctor

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Speaker 1: Nicole Sapphire on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts.