AMA statement on ACIP chair's comments on polio, routine vaccinations

Statement attributable to:
Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD
Trustee, American Medical Association

"The American Medical Association is deeply alarmed by efforts to weaken long-standing evidence-based vaccine recommendations, including suggestions that polio vaccination should seemingly not be routinely recommended to patients.

"This is not a theoretical debate-it is a dangerous step backward.

"Vaccines have saved millions of lives and virtually eliminated devastating diseases like polio in the United States. There is no cure for polio. When vaccination rates fall, paralysis, lifelong disability, and death return. The science on this is settled.

"Moving away from routine immunizations, which involves discussions between clinicians and patients, does not increase freedom-it increases suffering. It puts children, families, and entire communities at risk and undermines the public health protections that generations of Americans depend on.

"The AMA strongly urges policymakers to follow the evidence and the expertise of physicians and public health professionals. Weakening vaccine recommendations will cost lives, and that is a price our nation should not be willing to pay."