House and Senate Democrats are calling on President Donald Trump to rescind his Aug. 10 executive order targeting childhood vaccines, citing the rising measles outbreak, which has reached a 35-year high.
In a letter signed by more than 90 Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), lawmakers criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, for overhauling the childhood vaccine schedule and described the move as substituting “anti-vaccine ideology for decades of scientific evidence.”
“Every day this Executive Order remains in effect, more children go without the vaccines that would protect them, additional outbreaks become more likely, and lives are put at risk,” the letter read. “We urge you to rescind this Executive Order immediately and restore evidence-based decision-making to federal public health policy.”
The letter, obtained by NBC News, was sent Monday evening.
“The result will not be safer or healthier children; it will be a continued decline in vaccination rates, recurring disease outbreaks, higher healthcare costs, and school disruptions that cause learning loss,” they wrote.
While the letter has no Republicans signatories, at least one Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), who is a physician, recently slammed the order and on Sunday called it “a stupid thing to do.”