I’ve always loved children — they’re a glimmer of hope into what our world will look like in the not-so-distant future. That’s why I want to protect them from preventable, life-threatening diseases that are resurging across the country, thanks to lies spread by top health officials, which are only bound to get worse with the daily onslaught of their dangerous decisions.

While I’ve always joked that I love children and just “put up” with parents, I know that parents almost always have their kids’ best interests at heart. Today, many parents are inundated with so many different forms of information and perspectives when it comes to health care that it can be difficult for them to sort out reality from the noise. But it’s a different story when our nation’s health leaders are the source of this misinformation, confusion and flat-out recklessness.

It’s been concerning to see the role Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has played in undermining trust in public health. From most recently firing all of the experts on the Advisory Committee on Vaccine Practices to mass firing critical researchers and fear-mongering surrounding the MMR vaccine, Kennedy’s idea of “gold standard science” has been anything but that.

Thankfully, New Jersey’s leaders are taking a stand. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone introduced the Family Vaccine Protection Act last week, a bill designed to safeguard the childhood immunization schedule from political interference, and now, hold these new members of the Advisory Committee on Vaccine Practices accountable.

As a pediatric infectious disease specialist, a field I’ve spent decades in, I can tell you without a doubt that Kennedy is wrong that well-researched and reliable vaccines are “leaky,” contain “aborted fetus tissue,” or cause conditions like autism. Those are what we in medicine call lies — and we need members of Congress to take a stand against these lies by supporting this bill.

It’s a scientific fact that not receiving scheduled vaccinations increases health risks for most children, especially against highly infectious and fatal diseases like the measles. In fact, the MMR vaccine is extensively tested, safe, and proven to work — saving 94 million lives in the past 50 years.

The United States has recorded over 1,000 measles cases across the country, including several in New Jersey, since the start of 2025. In May, there was an exposure at a Shakira concert that put thousands at risk.

Most concerning is that three children have already died this year from measles, the first measles deaths in the United States in 10 years. Yet according to Kennedy, only having “four deaths in 20 years” is a success and “we’ve done a better job at controlling measles since I came into this agency than any other country in the world.” Kennedy blatantly ignores the reality that the last three unnecessary deaths have happened under his watch. This is a disease which, up until now, we had proudly and determinedly eliminated. Our children should be playing, learning, developing — not dying from easily preventable diseases.

These numbers didn’t just happen by coincidence; there is a cause-and effect-here. Kennedy is encouraging parents not to vaccinate their children and scaring them into thinking that vaccines will hurt them.

And this isn’t just the case with the measles — a new COVID variant was identified in New Jersey this week, just after Kennedy. made the call to no longer recommend the vaccine for children.

I know that parents can struggle with deciphering the right people to listen to. There are a million little choices they make for their kids everyday: what to cook for healthy dinners, what time to schedule that playdate for, who’s on tap to pick them up from daycare. But when it comes to health care, that’s best left to your local pediatricians and guidance from experts. Our mission is to keep your children safe, alive, happy and healthy.

We are going backward under Kennedy and we can’t let that continue. Our children are depending on us to do what will keep them safe.

I’m asking New Jersey leaders, like Rep. Tom Kean Jr., to follow Rep. Pallone’s lead and stand up for New Jersey’s public health, listen to the experts and follow the science.