Two pillars of our civil society threaten to collapse just when we need them most: cohesive public health services and effective emergency management.
Our public health system was once a national jewel.
Vaccines viewed as godsends eradicated or controlled crippling and potentially deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio, measles, diphtheria, meningitis, chickenpox and hepatitis.
For a century, pasteurization of milk has protected children and vulnerable adults from lethal bacteria such as E. coli, salmonella and listeria.
Now both are under attack as false theories fed by junk science spread rapidly over the internet and erode trust in the public health system.
Vaccination rates for the common childhood diseases dropped to 93% nationally in 2024, with much lower rates in red states where vaccines have become part of the political divide.
Even blue Hawaii reported that 39,583 public, charter and private school students in 2023-2024 were not current on required immunizations, up 25% from the year before.
Skeptical parents avoid vaccinating their kids with often dubious religious, medical and philosophical exemptions.
Diseases once nearly eradicated such as polio and measles are clawing their way back; public health officials warn that a deadly measles emergency, such as the 2019 Samoan outbreak that infected 5,700 and killed 83 after a steep drop in vaccinations, is waiting to happen in the U.S.
Vaccine hesitancy was on the rise before COVID-19, and the pandemic supercharged it.
Then-President Donald Trump hailed the COVID-19 vaccines rapidly produced by his “Operation Warp Speed” as a miracle — and they were — but as he prepares to lead again, he’s joined the anti-vaccine mood of his base and nominated leading vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his health secretary, with a mandate to “go wild.”
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a physician who worked on the Samoan outbreak that Kennedy is accused of contributing to, has lobbied against Kennedy’s appointment.
Some anti-vaxxers want Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the COVID-19 response, criminally prosecuted for promoting vaccines that helped slow the pandemic.
The real crime is that instead of learning from COVID-19, bickering has us even less prepared for the next pandemic surely coming our way.
America’s guiding principle on emergency management has been that if one state is hit by a disaster such as fire, hurricane, flood or earthquake, all states aid in the recovery — in modern times led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
This has taken an ugly turn in the Los Angeles fire that could become the most devastating ever.
Trump and Republican lawmakers, instead of offering comfort, take shots at California’s Democratic leaders and threaten to place unprecedented political conditions on federal recovery aid.
If the tradition of “one for all and all for one” dies, we’re all more exposed to the worst ravages from advancing climate change.
Imagine where Hawaii would be after the Lahaina fire if FEMA hadn’t been there with immediate and massive assistance for the displaced, just because we committed the offense of voting majority blue.
I don’t know all the answers, but I can tell you one: Adults in both public office and civil society need to behave like adults again.
———
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
