Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser warned that the demonization of the Covid-19 jab could spill over into children’s vaccination programs and lead to disease outbreaks.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Financial Times that political divisions in public health are preventing a “laser focus” on a common enemy, the coronavirus. While not facilitating, Congress has blocked billions of dollars in funding, both of which have hampered the nationwide response to the pandemic, he said.

“I am concerned about the accelerating anti-Vaxer attitudes in certain segments of the population . It’s very tragic,” Fauci said.

“Relying on vaccines for common childhood diseases that are vaccine-preventable will result in avoidable and unnecessary outbreaks.”

A snapshot of an interactive graphic is shown. This may be due to being offline or having JavaScript disabled in your browser.

New York State declared a state of emergency last week after poliovirus was detected in wastewater in several counties. In July, doctors diagnosed the first case of paralytic polio in the United States in a decade in Rockland County, where poliovirus vaccination coverage among 2-year-olds is 60%, well below the 95% required for herd immunity. I was.

Rockland also suffered a measles epidemic in 2018-2019 that sickened 312 people and was associated with low measles vaccination rates in the county.

In July, the World Health Organization released data showing the largest continued decline in global childhood immunizations in 30 years due to disruptions caused by Covid. It has been suggested that primary childhood vaccination coverage will decline by only 1% in the United States during the year.

But the Biden administration is concerned that the harsh political divisions that have hampered the rollout of the Covid jab in the US could fuel the spread of anti-virus attitudes. 2 received two Covid jabs and only a third received a booster, well below vaccination coverage in most other developed countries.

Dr. Fauci said public health officials need to step up efforts to combat misinformation on social media and improve communication to build public trust in vaccines and public health. He called on state governments and legislatures to “unite” to support efforts to end the pandemic and strengthen public health, including vaccination efforts.

Fauci, who has been the focus of Republican criticism of the government’s Covid response, did not name state governments or politicians who have allegedly fueled anti-vaccine sentiment.

But some health experts and doctors have criticized prominent Republican governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, for their leading efforts to prevent mandatory vaccines. .

In June, DeSantis spoke out against Covid jabs on children, falsely claiming they had “zero chances of getting anything.”

Fauci said his decision to step down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in December was not motivated by political attacks. And I want to use it to participate in projects that will inspire the young generation of scientists.”