Transparency will help keep America healthy

Federal government health institutions are not perfect. Given the track record of the last several years, Americans have good reason to demand more transparency. But we should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. In today’s polarized climate, anti-vaccine sentiment threatens to unravel decades of public health progress.

Although the science has been honed over time, vaccines are nothing new. The pursuit of safe and effective vaccines spans centuries. In fact, after recognizing the success of early inoculations, General George Washington insisted that troops joining the Continental Army get inoculated for smallpox, a disease that had devastated previous military campaigns.