Fauci warns of anti-vaxxer attitude beyond Covid-19

Bloomberg

US President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser warned in an interview with the Financial Times that a broad refusal of vaccines against Covid-19 may undermine efforts to immunise children and contain future
illness outbreaks.
Anti-vaccine attitudes “might spill over into that kind of a negative attitude towards childhood vaccinations,” Anthony Fauci was quoted as saying.
“If you fall back on vaccines against common vaccine-preventable childhood diseases, that’s where you wind up getting avoidable and unnecessary outbreaks.”
Political divisions over US public health are hurting efforts to fight the pandemic, he added, with some states failing to promote vaccines and Congress holding back funding.
The comments follow White House health officials’ recent warning that new virus outbreaks could prove more serious than Covid-19. The Biden administration is pushing for funding to combat that sort of threat, and the president urged Americans earlier this month to seek out newly authorised booster shots tailored to fight the omicron subvariants that are now dominant.
Efforts to contain the coronavirus have stoked political tensions between the White House and Republican leaders including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who are attempting to block vaccine mandates.
A hate-filled pressure campaign, including death threats, led the author of a bill seeking to cut California’s age of vaccine consent to abandon his efforts last month.