Changing federal guidance on vaccines has Connecticut health officials in an uproar.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine committee recently altered long-standing guidance on how newborns are vaccinated.

Meanwhile, doctors say more patients fear vaccine side effects, which doctors are addressing on a case-by-case basis during consultations. Public health experts are concerned that fear and confusion could bring back diseases that the U.S. had forgotten.

We’ll dig into the history of vaccines in America, check in with Connecticut doctors and ask the state's top public health official what's next.

Guests:
Jason L Schwartz: associate professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health; associate Professor in the History of Medicine, Yale University.
Dr. Manisha Juthani: commissioner, Connecticut Department of Public Health
Dr. David Banach: head of infection prevention at UConn Health

Changing federal guidance on vaccines has Connecticut health officials in an uproar.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-12-05/outlandish-and-disturbing-ct-doctors-condemn-federal-hepatitis-b-vaccine-guidance-for-babies">vaccine committee recently altered long-standing guidance on how newborns are vaccinated</a>.
Meanwhile, doctors say more patients fear vaccine side effects, which doctors are addressing on a case-by-case basis during consultations. Public health experts are concerned that fear and confusion could bring back diseases that the U.S. had forgotten.
We&rsquo;ll dig into the history of vaccines in America, check in with Connecticut doctors and ask the state's top public health official what's next.
Guests:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/jschwartz/">Jason L Schwartz</a>: associate professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health; associate Professor in the History of Medicine, Yale University.</li>
<li><a href="https://portal.ct.gov/dph/about-the-commissioner?language=en_US">Dr. Manisha Juthani</a>: commissioner, Connecticut Department of Public Health</li>
<li><a href="https://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=banach-david">Dr. David Banach</a>: head of infection prevention at UConn Health</li>
</ul>

Produced by Connecticut Public, 'Where We Live' puts Connecticut in context. Host Catherine Shen brings us fascinating, informed, in-depth conversations and stories beyond news headlines.  We start local, but we take time to explore domestic and international issues and consider how they impact us personally and here at home.

Produced by Connecticut Public, '<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/where-we-live/about">Where We Live'</a> puts Connecticut in context. Host Catherine Shen brings us fascinating, informed, in-depth conversations and stories beyond news headlines.  We start local, but we take time to explore domestic and international issues and consider how they impact us personally and here at home.

Where We Live is a call-in talk show about who we are in Connecticut and our place in the world.

Where We Live

Produced by Connecticut Public, '<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/where-we-live/about">Where We Live'</a> puts Connecticut in context. Host Catherine Shen brings us fascinating, informed, in-depth conversations and stories beyond news headlines.  We start local, but we take time to explore domestic and international issues and consider how they impact us personally and here at home.

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