Cynthia Leifer

Associate Professor of Immunology

Cynthia Leifer, professor of immunology at Cornell University, is an expert on vaccines. She says vaccines have become a victim of their own success.

Leifer says:

“If I were a virus, I would throw a party right now. The potential removal of all vaccine mandates in Florida will allow diseases that have been kept in check for decades to rear their ugly heads again. Vaccines have become a victim of their own success because people stopped seeing the suffering of children from vaccine-preventable diseases. 

“We have forgotten the babies with whooping cough turning blue because they can’t breathe, children scarred for life from smallpox and chickenpox, children with polio in iron lungs that breathe for them because they are paralyzed, or, if they were lucky enough to survive, their permanent limp. We have forgotten children who were blinded by measles or made sterile with mumps. We have forgotten the grief and heartbreak that nearly every family faced only 100 years ago when infectious disease claimed 1 in 3 children before the age of 5.

 “Florida’s proposed actions on vaccines are also a symptom of a bigger problem. Those who are entrusted to take care of the health of people and our society are both ignoring evidence-based science and deliberately undermining trust in scientists and medical professionals. For people like me, we see our careers, our funding to do important research, and our integrity being challenged and stripped away. We are being silenced. 

“Ask yourself who will benefit most from these actions? The answer is the viruses and infections we are trying to fight. The good news is that there is still time. Several states are banding together to agree on public health policies, and medical societies like the American Academy of Pediatrics are pushing back. We need everyone to join the fight, before it is too late.”