David Miliband warns rise of ‘alternative facts’ threatens global vaccination drive
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Potential changes to US policy under Trump could also hamper aid efforts to most vulnerable, says former UK foreign secretary. The rise of “alternative facts” and the end of automatic deference to doctors is creating dangers for global efforts to vaccinate vulnerable children, David Miliband has warned.
![[Three men wearing suits stand in a corridor in front of a microphone.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/45603ef37c219f1539088edbb45e93fa4e04ca40/0_0_4235_3122/master/4235.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The former UK foreign secretary, who now runs the International Rescue Committee (IRC), was speaking hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the US. Changes to how the US engages with the rest of the world will not only potentially hamper efforts to provide health services and humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable, but could also have an impact on the amount of conflict and other disasters globally, Miliband said.
![[A woman wearing a charity bib vest gives vaccinations to a group of small children]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/58caeb8078d5451666c45b271c6a6014940a48d9/0_0_8192_5464/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Trump’s pick for US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has repeatedly spread conspiracy theories about vaccination. Trump has repeated some of that information, including suggesting that Kennedy will investigate the widely debunked myth that links autism and vaccines.
![[A protester from the #ResistGag movement holds a sign reading ‘If Trump got pregnant there wouldn’t be a gag rule’ with a picture of a pregnant Donald Trump]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3e1b04948be3e614e9f7b2197e02bfabf830c271/0_0_5376_3856/master/5376.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Any rise in anti-vaccine sentiment may make the IRC’s work harder, Miliband said. “The information ecosystem has moved from one that is hyper-deferential to medical opinion – which has its own challenges – to one where you can have your facts, or you can have your alternative facts, and that’s a very dangerous situation.”.
Vaccine sceptics frequently challenge authorities “to prove negatives – and you can’t”, he said. The IRC runs the Reaching Every Child in Humanitarian Settings (Reach) project, which works to get vaccines to children living in fragile or conflict-affected areas where government is partial or nonexistent.
