When a climate change-skeptic government formed in Australia in 2013, it abolished the Australia Climate Commission, an independent and authoritative voice on climate change established by the previous government. In protest, thousands of Australians organized a crowdfunding campaign to establish the Climate Council, an evidence-based voice on the subject and an advocate for policies to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate and adapt to the country’s changing climate.
In the United States, climate hasn’t been the motivator for similar action to date. I suspect, however, that the scientific community will soon find an equivalent independent voice to counter climate-skeptic Trump’s narrative and his policies to gut and repurpose the Environmental Protection Agency.
Instead, it is the health of Americans in the face of disinformation from its federal government that is the focus of the Vaccine Integrity Project, a non-government startup.
Why has disinformation crept into the conversation about vaccines? It appears that COVID-19 fuelled a growing rebellion against evidence-based science and vaccines. Anti-vaccine advocates, many of them celebrities, have entered the public discourse.
The anti-vax trend has been exacerbated by Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head up the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where a litany of anti-vaccine disinformation has emerged. In interviews, Kennedy has linked vaccines to autism, attributed rising deaths from measles vaccine and not measles, withdrawn US $500 million from 22 ongoing mRNA research projects (mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the onslaught of COVID-19), cut research grants studying the H5N1 and H7N9 strains of avian influenza (bird flu), responsible for the culling of millions of chickens and other farm livestock, recommended healthy children and pregnant women not be vaccinated against COVID-19, cancelled HIV vaccine research, and removed the 17-member HHS advisory board, replacing them with people less qualified.
With science under threat as well as the health of Americans, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) began an initiative that has led to the aforementioned Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP).
Its charter is to “safeguard the development and use of vaccines in the United States so that immunization policies and programs remain grounded in the best available science, free from external influence, and focused on optimizing protection of individuals, families, and communities against vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Since its formation in April 2025, VIP has been collecting and synthesizing data from public health experts, academics, industry, insurers, medical associations, not-for-profits and community organizations to retain existing expertise on vaccinations and vaccine policies.
VIP, in releasing its first report, has made the following commitments:
- To strengthen communication and improve information dissemination about vaccines.
- To develop and disseminate best practice clinical tools and guidelines.
- To maintain America’s vaccine infrastructure.
- To stabilize vaccine safety.
- To assist state and local health authorities.
- To safeguard vaccine insurance coverage.
- To ensure the flow of accurate health information and vaccine data and prevent further erosion of the public trust in health agencies.
- To create an overarching coalition in vaccine leadership to counter the disinformation emanating from HHS.
Of immediate concern is the upcoming fall and winter, with respiratory infections on the rise, looking at influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and COVID-19. VIP’s goal is “to develop and disseminate a robust evidence base for immunization recommendations and clinical considerations” to guide public health decision-makers and Americans.
In VIP’s first report, entitled “Securing the Foundation: Stakeholder Insights and Strategies for Maintaining a Strong Vaccine Infrastructure Across the U.S.,” the executive summary states:
“Americans must have access to clear, credible, evidence-based information to make decisions about how best to keep themselves and their families healthy, including against vaccine-preventable infectious diseases.”
VIP received an initial $240,000 from Alumbra, a foundation created by Christy Walton of the Walmart family. It is headed up by Dr. Michael Osterholm at the University of Minnesota, accompanied by Margaret Hamburg, at the University of Washington and former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Harvey Fineberg, at UC San Diego, President of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and former President of the National Academy of Medicine, and five more qualified academics and researchers who make up the eight-member steering committee.
When Australia’s Climate Council came into being, its launch was supported by a crowdfunding campaign that raised AUS $800,000 in three days. Since then, the Climate Council has been supported by public donations and philanthropies. It receives no government money, and in 2022/23 reported annual revenues of AUS $7.88 million.
From humble beginnings like that described above, can VIP follow? One would hope so because the integrity of America’s health system and science is at stake, as well as the lives of thousands of Americans.
The arrival of VIP cannot have come too soon. The latest data on the upcoming fall and winter respiratory disease season shows an uptick in COVID-19, while RSV and influenza are expected to begin showing up with the reopening of schools and as temperatures cool. In their newsletter, Your Local Epidemiologist, Katelyn Jetelina and Hannah Totte recommend it is time to mask in crowded indoor settings and when travelling, particularly on airplanes, to avoid getting sick.
