Haunting stories Dead babies, critically ill kids: Pediatricians make moving plea for vaccines "I remember holding a baby dying of complications of pneumococcal meningitis." Beth Mole Jan 27, 2025 5:37 pm | 71 A baby with measles. Credit: CDC A baby with measles. Credit: CDC Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAs federal lawmakers prepare to decide whether anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, pediatricians from around the country are making emotional pleas to protect and support lifesaving immunizations.The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has assembled nearly 200 stories and dozens of testimonials on the horrors of vaccine-preventable deaths and illnesses that pediatricians have encountered over their careers. The testimonials have been shared with two Senate committees that will hold hearings later this week: the Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).I remember that babys face to this dayIn a statement on Monday, AAP President Susan Kressly noted that the stories come from a wide range of pediatriciansfrom rural to urban and from small practices to large institutions. Some have recalled stories of patients who became ill with devastating diseases before vaccines were available to prevent them, while others shared more recent experiences as vaccine misinformation spread and vaccination rates slipped.In one, a pediatrician from Raleigh, North Carolina, spoke of a baby in the 1990s with Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis, a life-threatening disease. "I remember holding a baby dying of complications of pneumococcal meningitis at that time. I remember that baby's face to this daybut, thanks to pneumococcal vaccination, have never had to relive that experience since," the doctor said. The first pneumococcal vaccine for infants was licensed in the US in 2000.A doctor in Portland, Maine, meanwhile, faced the same disease in a patient who was unvaccinated despite the availability of the vaccine. "As a resident, I cared for a young, unvaccinated child admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit with life-threatening Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis. This devastating illness, once common, has become rare thanks to the widespread use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. However, this child was left vulnerable...and [their parents] now faced the anguish of watching their child fight for their life on a ventilator."Kressly emphasizes that "One unifying theme of these stories: vaccines allow children to grow up healthy and thrive. As senators consider nominees for federal healthcare agencies, we hope these testimonies will help paint a picture of just how important vaccinations are to childrens long-term health and wellbeing."Though AAPlike all other major medical and health organizationsconsiders the safety and efficacy of vaccines "settled science," fear has grown for the future of vaccination in the US after President Trump selected Kennedy as his pick for health secretary. Kennedy is a well-established anti-vaccine advocate who ran the anti-vaccine organization Children's Health Defense (aka CHD, and formerly the World Mercury Project, WMP) between 2015 and 2023. In that time, he served as board chair and chief legal counsel.Deadly influenceKennedy has long spread false, debunked claims that vaccines are linked to autism (there is no link), and that mercury in vaccines cause harm (the mercury-based preservative Thimerosal has not been linked to any harms beyond minor redness and swelling, and it hasn't been used in childhood vaccines since 2001). He has also falsely claimed that childhood vaccines have not been tested in double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (they have) or been tested in "a safety study pre-licensing" (they have).In 2018 and 2019, Kennedy and CHD spread misinformation and stoked fear of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine in Samoa. Vaccination coverage plummeted to just 31 percent. In November of that year, an outbreak of measles took hold, ultimately killing 83 people, mostly children. Among the health workers who responded to the outbreak was Josh Green, a physician and now Hawaii governor. Green helped with a mass vaccination campaign at the time. He wrote of the experience in The New York Times earlier this month, noting Kennedy's role in the outbreak and sharing an experience visiting the home of a toddler who had just died of measles:"The child was lying on a makeshift bed in the middle of the familys one-room house, her face still red from fever. I put my hands on her face and could feel the warmth in her skin, but her eyes were fixed and glazed over. My stethoscope confirmed she was no longer breathing.In spite of her severe case of measles, her family was caring for her at home because the hospital was filled beyond capacity and there werent enough doctors, nurses or beds to accommodate her. We shared a moment of mourning for her with her parents and then proceeded to vaccinate her family members at the parents request before we had to move on to continue our mission."Meanwhile in 2019, Kennedy led a (failed) legal effort to try to weaken vaccination requirements in New York schools, and a study led by researchers at the University of Maryland identified Kennedy's CHD/WMP as the single leading source of anti-vaccine ads on Facebook.Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy and CHD gained yet more prominence. Since 2000, CHD filed nearly 30 federal and state lawsuits challenging vaccine and public health policies. In 2021, Kennedy petitioned the FDA to rescind the authorization of COVID-19 vaccines.In 2022, CHD was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram, which occurred just days after the organization seemed to celebrate dips in vaccination rates amid the spread of polio in New York.Cautionary talesThe stories and testimonies of the pediatrician highlight how dangerous Kennedy's actions are."I have had the devastating experience of witnessing an infant turn blue repeatedly from repeated coughing bouts then die from the pertussis that wreaked her infant lungs," a Colorado pediatrician wrote. "I have intubated babies with RSV whose secretions were drowning them. I held a mothers hand while she sobbed as her toddler lay postictal [with altered consciousness] from his umpteenth seizure from his varicella encephalitis." There are vaccines available that prevent pertussis (whopping cough), RSV, and varicella (chickenpox).An Ohio pediatrician share memories of a two-month stint at a hospital in Ghana in 1980. "I still see the faces of the children with complications of measles, polio, or tetanus: muscle spasms, difficulty breathing, pneumonia, and dehydration," she said. "I returned to Ohio reflecting on how fortunate we were to have access to effective vaccines against those illnesses."Another pediatrician told a story of a family who refused vaccinations until the unvaccinated child of a family friend died of Streptococcal pneumonia sepsis while on a trip abroad."Immediately upon return to the United States, my patients mother called and asked how quickly we can get her children fully vaccinated," the doctor wrote. "She stated she realized that the risk of death was real and that the risk of adverse developmental outcomes had not been scientifically proven and was a minor concern compared to losing her child."The Senate Committee on Finance will consider Kennedy's nomination on January 29, while the HELP committee will hold its hearing on January 30.Beth MoleSenior Health ReporterBeth MoleSenior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technicas Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 71 Comments