The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) is a medical society comprised of hospitalists that exists to promote exceptional care for hospitalized patients.
The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) strongly opposes the recent change to the U.S. childhood immunization schedule, which contradicts existing science confirming vaccines’ safety and efficacy in preventing disease. Hospitalists, both pediatric and adult, witness the consequences of vaccine-preventable illnesses daily. This move threatens patient safety by eroding public trust in decades of evidence-based public health protections and will lead to avoidable illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.
This is a critical moment for our profession and our patients. SHM urges continued use of evidence-based guidelines as outlined by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Academy of Pediatrics. We have already seen a disturbing resurgence of pediatric measles cases nationwide, and SHM warns that other previously eliminated or rare illnesses will reemerge from this change in federal guidance.
Eric E. Howell, MD, MHM
Chief Executive Officer, SHM