In March 2025, it was announced that the U.S. would no longer support international public health programs that vaccinated millions of children worldwide. This is a hit to children worldwide on top of the Trump administration cuts to U.S. AID programs that provided basic nutrition for hundreds of thousands of children worldwide. One may interpret these directives as a reflection that the current U.S. political leadership no longer believes that the U.S. has an obligation to non-American children.
But one only needs to look at what is happening in the U.S. now to see that the lack of care for children at home, as the administration signals to cut the Vaccines for Children program, which supports disease-preventative efforts in the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Examining what has evolved from the culture wars of the past several years, one sees a slew of policies detrimental to children in many ways. Rather than reflecting mainstream pediatric and educational philosophy, these policies mirror the political creep of fringe groups and politicians to impose their viewpoints on other people's children. These policies impact infection control, education, nutrition, healthcare, and the environment.
Front-page news is now dotted with reports of a resurgence in vaccine-preventable infections, including measles. But contrary to some, vaccinations have never been a matter of personal choice in this country, but rather a 100-year-old societal obligation to keep America safe. In fact, the majority of Americans support childhood vaccination (about 70%), according to a January 2025 report by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC).
Yet, the measles outbreaks happening across the U.S. are predictable consequences of a well-funded anti-vaccine movement that has pushed for laws encouraging vaccine exemptions and the weakening of school vaccine requirements. Read More: What Trump Has Done on Reproductive Health Care In His First 100 Days Much has been highlighted about the mental health problems our children are experiencing. It is too convenient to blame these issues on the unregulated proliferation of social media.
There are multiple factors for mental health problems in the U.S., including the stress that society is under due to dizzying politics and culture wars—not to mention environmental degradation. The past few decades of climate change have had an impact on society. Thus, there has been a rightful concern and regulation of environmental toxins in air, water, and food, as well as the impact of climate change on health.
Numerous studies also show that environmental toxins disproportionately hurt children as compared to adults. Incredibly, looking to their future, children in Montana sued the state and won, arguing that the state needed to implement policies to mitigate the impact of climate change. Here, too, we are seeing the evisceration of policies that provide environmental protections for all of us, including children.
At the state level, we also see laws considered that will be detrimental to children. In response to a workforce shortage caused by the loss of immigrant workers, the Florida legislature is proposing legislation that will roll back child labor laws. The proposed bill will allow children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts on school days.
The impact of a singular pediatric-related policy change on infection prevention, nutrition, education, healthcare, or the environment would be dramatic. However, the cumulative effect of numerous collective policies that change in multiple ways simultaneously may be devastating. In 1963, President Kennedy said, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet.
We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.” Amidst the political chaos, which is sadly becoming the new norm, perhaps now is the time to step back and ask when America stopped cherishing its children.
Are we prepared for the answer and consequences?
