Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of DC to BC, a column by Nathan Thomas that explains how federal policies and actions affect the Boston College community. 

The man who has admitted to dumping a dead bear in Central Park, said that Wi-Fi radiation causes cancer, and claimed that a worm ate parts of his brain now wants you to take his health advice—don’t bother with those vaccines.

Maybe it is the brain-eating worm talking.

The grim reality is that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unleashed dangerous conspiracy theories on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and those policies are trickling down to Boston College.

I spoke with Philip Landrigan, a Harvard Medical School graduate, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologist, and director of BC’s global public health and the common good program to find out what he has to say about the changes.

On Sept. 19, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to claw back COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for those ages 6 months to 64 years old. By effectively limiting them to Americans with underlying health conditions and those 65 and older, most BC students are no longer officially recommended for the vaccine.

Contributing to the reversal, Kennedy made a “clean sweep” of the ACIP earlier this fall, replacing all 17 members largely with conspiracy theorists and vaccine skeptics.

Landrigan, an American Board of Pediatrics–certified pediatrician and storied CDC doctor, was a part of the immunization program at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, where he worked closely with the committee that is now under attack.

Without mincing words, Landrigan asserted that the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez and subsequent dismantling of the ACIP reduced the “once distinguished body of independent scientists” to nothing more than “an act of vandalism, equivalent to spray painting the Washington Monument.” 

“You don’t take people with no expertise in vaccines to guide the country’s vaccine policy, just like how you don’t go to barber if you want brain surgery,” he said. 

While the White House maintains that everyone who wants a vaccine can get one, the message is inherently confusing—most insurance companies are only required to cover the costs of a vaccine if it falls under “recommended” status. Even as the American Academy of Pediatrics has “held the line” by continuing the recommendation, Landrigan fearfully acknowledged that “some insurance companies may decide not to cover vaccinations,” which would leave single doses costing as much as $140, according to the CDC. With the high prices, “those living paycheck to paycheck are going to forgo the vaccine,” warned Landrigan, and “disease will thus disproportionally hit the poorest and most disadvantaged members of the population, leading to reduced net vaccine uptake.” 

Kennedy justified the recommendation rollback by citing high levels of herd immunity pertaining to COVID-19. Ladrigan warned that this thought process could set a dangerous precedent. While the US has largely eradicated diseases like measles and polio, it only takes a single “geographical, religious, or ethnic pocket for these diseases to reemerge.” 

The medical upheaval doesn’t just impact vaccine recommendations—it jeopardizes the entire future of public health research. In August, HHS announced that they were canceling $500 billion in mRNA vaccine research, baselessly claiming that mRNA vaccines “encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics.”

“My view is diametrically the opposite, as backed by 100 years of data,” Landrigan said “The great advantage of mRNA is that they can be developed very rapidly.” 

He pointed out the irony that “it was under President Trump in his first administration under Operation Warp Speed that those [mRNA] vaccines were brought online, and that they are extremely effective.

According to Landrigan, “more than $20 million in federal grants have been washed from Boston College,” potentially limiting the university’s medical research capabilities. As these cuts have been ravaging other universities, he warned of the real threat that these actions can “shut down the pipeline on biomedical research in years to come.” China and the E.U. will quickly jump into the innovation gap that the United States leaves behind. 

In light of shifts in vaccine policy, Landrigan made clear that he recommends all members of the BC community to receive all recommended vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, unless they have a medical contraindication. BC is currently offering a vaccine clinic where students can receive the flu, COVID, and faculty can also receive the RSV vaccine. 

He strongly urges students to “cut through misinformation, nonsense, and pure bullshit that’s out there about the harms of vaccines.” Touching on the social justice element, he calls on students to reach out to people in the greater Boston area, “especially those in the disadvantaged communities.” 

Landrigan noted that many of these communities “are the most susceptible to the disinformation because they don’t have access to education and other sources of information.” BC students can further the pursuit of the common good by engaging in service opportunities, advocating for those with less resources, and even calling out disinformation when they hear it. 

While conspiracy theories about vaccines, acetaminophen causing autism, and the impacts of fluoride have become commonplace at HHS, Landrigan calls on the BC community to “stand up for public health, keep the faith, and keep working towards the common good.” 

The war on public health is not just unfolding in Washington, D.C.—it has inevitably spread to Boston College. It greatly impacts every member of the BC community. As Landrigan said, RFK’s actions “contravene the common good”, which flies in the face of BC’s mission. Critical research funding, life-saving vaccines, and the integrity of American public health is on the line. We must step up for science, fend off misinformation, and fight for our nation’s good.