The Cost of Undermining Vaccines

By Office of the President | Nov 4, 2025

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

Jane R. Zucker, M.D., MSc, Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health’s Department of Community Health Sciences and former Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has authored a compelling Viewpoint in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) titled “The Measles Resurgence.”

Dr. Zucker traces more than a century of public health data. Some of this data is recorded in the faded ledgers of New York City’s earliest surveillance programs, serving as a reminder of how far vaccination has carried humanity and how much we risk losing. She recounts a period when tens of thousands of children in New York City contracted measles, diphtheria, and polio each year. Measles and polio are now all but eliminated in the U.S. through rigorous vaccination campaigns.

Dr. Zucker’s warning is as urgent as it is evidence-based: the United States has recorded its most significant number of measles cases in more than five years, with over 1,600 infections, 202 hospitalizations, and three deaths as of October 2025. The outbreaks, concentrated in close-knit communities with low vaccine uptake, echo the 2018–2019 New York City outbreak she helped contain, an effort that required an $8 million public health mobilization and hundreds of health workers.

“These data tell the story of past measles outbreaks,” Dr. Zucker writes, “and they are a warning of what may soon happen in the U.S.”

What distinguishes Dr. Zucker’s article is more than the data; it’s also the context. She raises deep concern about the erosion of science-based immunization policy at the federal level, noting that trusted institutions like the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) have faced sweeping changes that threaten their credibility and capacity.

While some current federal leaders have questioned long-established vaccine guidance or promoted unproven remedies, Dr. Zucker, who was among the 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) replaced following the transition in leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), argues for a return to scientific rigor, transparency, and community engagement, principles on which modern public health rests. Her article reminds us that the consequences of undermining vaccine confidence are not abstract: they appear in the form of deaths and children hospitalized with diseases that should no longer exist.

“The nation is undergoing a dismantling of public health,” she writes, “and the destruction of evidence-based immunization policy.”

Dr. Zucker’s voice represents the best of Downstate’s mission: advancing health equity, protecting vulnerable populations, and grounding public dialogue in science and compassion. Her leadership highlights the crucial role of academic medical centers in combating misinformation and fostering public trust in medicine.

Downstate congratulates Dr. Jane Zucker on this national recognition and thanks her for her lifelong commitment to disease prevention and public health integrity. Her message is clear: when science is undermined, communities suffer, but when science leads, lives are saved.

“The Measles Resurgence” by Jane R. Zucker, MD, MSc (JAMA, October 1, 2025).

Dr. Zucker received her M.D. degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and her MSc degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her internal medicine residency at Kings County Hospital/SUNY Downstate.

Read More About Dr. Zucker