An alarming decline in childhood vaccination rates, resulting from anti-science rhetoric, likely means a resurgence of deadly preventable diseases, and the Today in Ohio podcast crew suggests that only the firing of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will restore sane decision making to health policy.
Lisa Garvin noted that vaccination rates among kindergarteners in Ohio has dropped 4.5 percent since the pandemic, from 89.9 percent in 2019 to 85.4 percent now. The decline represents thousands of Ohio children now vulnerable to diseases that had been largely controlled through routine immunization—a public health achievement that the podcast hosts fear is being undermined by politically motivated misinformation.
“Our child mortality rate’s going to go up in America,” said Chris Quinn. “There’s no doubt about it. If we really have vaccines dropping, people will die. People are going to lose their kids. All because we put this wildly crazy person in charge of health in America.”
The podcast connected this troubling trend to recent developments in federal health leadership, noting how scientific expertise is being sidelined in favor of politically appealing but medically unsound positions. Quinn highlighted the historical impact of vaccination campaigns:
“The record could not be clearer. When we started to vaccinate children against these horrible diseases, the mortality rate of children dropped significantly. Vaccines Save lives.”
The hosts expressed particular concern about recent measles outbreaks—a disease once declared eliminated in the United States—noting that 92% of confirmed cases were in unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown vaccination status.
The discussion also touched on the irony that former President Trump, who previously took credit for expediting COVID vaccine development, is now allowing anti-vaccine sentiment to flourish within his administration.
Listen to the discussion here.
Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with Editorial Board member Lisa Garvin, Impact Editor Leila Atassi and Content Director Laura Johnston.
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