June 22, 2025

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First Opinion editor

This week, my baby (do I have to start calling her my toddler?) got her 15-month vaccines. I thought about that moment — how hard it is to watch her cry in outrage, how grateful I am to have her protected — while editing an important First Opinion by six former chairs of ACIP, the CDC's vaccine advisory committee.

In the wake of ACIP's membership being entirely replaced by people handpicked by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former chairs write, "Without immediate action, we risk losing access to life-saving immunizations and the ability to respond to future public health threats. The damage, once done, may not be easily repaired." They lay out four major ways that the vaccine enterprise is being undermined in the U.S.: "We are witnessing a dismantling of the systems that develop, license, recommend, and monitor vaccines."

Recommendation of the week: All I want to do this weekend is finish binge-watching the new season of "America's Sweethearts," the Netflix docuseries about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. I particularly want to know more about how they handle injuries — does the Cowboys organization cover their medical care if they blow out a knee performing their signature (and bonkers) jump-split?

Bill Gates and his father, who died in 2020 of Alzheimer's disease.

Courtesy Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Dan Lamont

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