Prognosis
RFK Jr. Is Scaring Parents Into Asking Doctors for Early Shots
Pediatricians weigh the risks of vaccinating ahead of schedule with threat of shot shortages looming.
A child after receiving a vaccine in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergAfter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the nation’s top health official in February, pediatrician Jeff Couchman started getting a lot of questions from worried parents.
“They’d ask: ‘Are vaccines going to be available? Can we give my kid every possible shot today just to make sure?’” said Couchman, who practices at Mesquite Pediatrics in Tucson, Arizona.