As federal officials revisit vaccine recommendations, decades of evidence show childhood immunization helps protect Tennessee children, prevent serious illnesses and strengthen community health.

Every August, National Immunization Awareness Month offers an opportunity to recognize one of the most important advancements in children’s health: vaccines. This year, that conversation comes at an especially important moment. As federal health officials review and reconsider recommendations for childhood vaccines, Tennessee families deserve clear, trustworthy information about what is at stake.

Thanks to vaccines, generations of children have grown up healthier, missed fewer days of school and avoided diseases that once devastated families and communities. Illnesses such as polio, measles and whooping cough that once routinely caused severe complications, hospitalization, disability and death are no longer a daily fear for parents.

Vaccines have made an enormous difference. While they do not prevent every infection, they reduce one’s likelihood of becoming sick, slow the spread of outbreaks and lower the risk of severe illness and complications.

Vaccines have transformed children's health

Every day, our families make decisions to reduce risk, even when no solution offers perfect protection. Seat belts and car seats cannot prevent crashes, but they protect drivers and passengers. Smoke detectors cannot prevent fires, but they provide critical early warnings that save lives. When the health and safety of our families are on the line, we do not demand perfection. We value the protection that works.

Longtime allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, have launched a new effort to repeal laws that for decades have required children to be vaccinated against measles, polio and other diseases before they enter day care or kindergarten.

A newly formed coalition of vaccine activists is targeting laws that are considered the linchpin of protection from deadly diseases. States have long mandated childhood immunizations before children can start day care or school, though some exemptions are available.

…, a new umbrella group of at least 15 nonprofit organizations advocating an end to state laws that codify what they call medical mandates, which largely pertain to vaccines.

…Yet one potent guardrail against weakening immunization mandates has emerged. A number of polls show that voters would penalize lawmakers who favor eliminating school requirements. In one recent poll, conducted by The Wall Street Journal, voters gave Democrats a 9 percent advantage over Republicans when asked which party is best suited to handle vaccine policy.

Two polls commissioned by vaccine backers and conducted by Republican-leaning firms found that voters in Florida and Tennessee would not support lawmakers who want to end school-vaccine mandates. One poll by Fabrizio Ward, a firm that President Trump relies on, found that swing voters in tight congressional races would strip about 20 percentage points from a Republican candidate who was critical of vaccines.

“Vaccine skepticism is bad politics,” the Fabrizio Ward memo said.

Vaccine backers are still concerned about proposals in New Hampshire, Iowa, Idaho, Georgia and potentially other states that could end or sharply limit vaccine requirements for school entry.

“Prior to vaccines, one in five kids didn’t make it to their fifth birthday," said Jennifer Herricks, advocacy director for American Families for Vaccines, a nonprofit that receives some of its funding from vaccine makers. “Having these policies in place has really served to protect kids at the time when they are the most vulnerable to these diseases.”