The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week lowered its recommendations for child immunizations — but Dallas County will continue offering all previously recommended vaccinations for free.
Dallas County's Health and Human Services director Phillip Huang said cutting the recommended schedule from 17 to 11 vaccinations undermines the county's effort to vaccinate everyone, which protects the public against spreadable diseases.
"Unfortunately, they seemed to be more political agenda as opposed to based on science or any changes," he said.
Instead of CDC recommendations, families should follow the guidance of their pediatricians or the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said, "...which are real doctors that use science as opposed to the crazies that run the CDC now."
"It's important for people to know that the people making these decisions are not doctors or scientists. These are bloggers, people that make money off getting on social media and saying things that are contrary to the prevailing thought," Jenkins said. "That's who is now taking the place of scientists on this — people who make money off of you. To get you to click on their garbage on TikTok and other sources. So moms need to be aware it's not that another group of doctors is giving their thoughts, it's that people who make a living stirring up false controversies are now running the CDC."
The county says cutting the recommended schedule from 17 to 11 vaccinations undermines local efforts to protect the public against spreadable diseases.
So free immunizations for kids and adults will continue in Dallas County, including measles, COVID-19 and flu shots.
"It's also important with adults because if grandma stops getting her flu shot because some cranks say flu shots are not good, then we're gonna have more old people die under the flu," Jenkins said.
Recent ICE raids also have scared people from entering government buildings, causing numbers to fall short of herd immunity, Huang said.
The U.S. is currently trying to retain its measles-elimination status with the Pan American Health Organization, which is a part of the World Health Organization.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned the safety and efficacy of many vaccines. Last year, he removed all of the members serving on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which historically helped shape vaccine policies.
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