JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Trump administration wants to stop recommending some childhood vaccines, and that's created a dilemma for pediatricians and local health officials. As Karen Brown at New England Public Media reports, they've had to work out new ways to share scientific information with the public.
KAREN BROWN, BYLINE: Dr. John Snyder has been practicing pediatrics in Amherst, Massachusetts, for 30 years. For all that time, he relied on the scientific advice coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
JOHN SNYDER: The CDC used to be, worldwide, the most trusted source of information pertaining to public health.
BROWN: But when longtime vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became Secretary for Health and Human Services, he purged the CDC's vaccine advisory board, and some of his new appointees are prominent vaccine skeptics.
SNYDER: It turned into a completely unreputable source of information.
BROWN: In January, the CDC took some pediatric shots off the recommended list, but medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics sued. For now, a federal judge has ordered the administration to revert back to the previous guidelines. The CDC did not return a request for comment. Snyder says all the back and forth has pediatricians like him in a bind. At his practice, they decided to change their website to say the CDC is no longer reliable or legitimate. Now it says, ask us for guidance.
SNYDER: It's shocking that we have to say that.
BROWN: Conversations with some families have been tense. One mother recently came in with her son. She asked that NPR only use her first name, Melissa, to protect information about her son's health.
SNYDER: There's one vaccine that you are way behind in. And I don't know if we've talked about this before, but it's the HPV vaccine.
BROWN: Melissa had previously refused the HPV vaccine, which helps prevent some cancers. This time, she said her son, who's 14, could decide. He said, yes, he would get it. But to some other vaccines, like COVID, she won't budge.
SNYDER: So...
MELISSA: I'm a hard no on the COVID.
SNYDER: You're a hard no...
MELISSA: Yep.
SNYDER: ...On the COVID. So we could talk about that if you want.
MELISSA: I don't need to talk about it.
BROWN: After the appointment, Melissa admitted she has a hard time knowing who to trust on vaccines, including the CDC.
MELISSA: Actually, I worry about that it's been politicized a lot. And I don't like politics. I think now I prefer to hear things from people, healthcare professionals.
BROWN: Dr. Snyder gets that. He's also been working with local health departments on a new website called Valley Vax. It sidesteps the CDC and highlights advice from local doctors and professional medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics. The website is even advertised on the sides of local buses. Amherst's Public Health director, Kiko Malin, is leading these efforts. She says it's the first time in her career she's had to contradict what the CDC is saying.
KIKO MALIN: And that's not a comfortable place to be in at all. I do wish very much that I was not in this position.
BROWN: Adriane Casalotti is with the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She says some of her members are working with community leaders to reach people who aren't listening to any government institutions.
ADRIANE CASALOTTI: But they do have strong connections within their faith community, or they do have strong connections within their neighborhood.
BROWN: Casalotti says, like Amherst, other health departments have also stopped quoting the CDC on vaccines and are referring people to the major medical groups. She says their advice might change slightly as the science evolves, but it's unlikely to change every time there's a lawsuit or a presidential election. For NPR News, I'm Karen Brown in western Massachusetts.
SUMMERS: This story comes from NPR's reporting partnership with NEPM and KFF Health News.
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