Health experts raise concerns about the rise in vaccine skepticism and hesitancy as a bill criminalizing certain vaccines circulates in the state Legislature.

A group of Minnesota House Republicans wrote a bill that would categorize certain vaccines, such as mRNA, as “weapons of mass destruction” and make possessing or using them a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, the Minnesota Reformer reported.

Some mRNA vaccines make up COVID-19 treatments and have helped prevent millions of deaths during the pandemic, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The bill mirrors language by Floridian hypnotist Joseph Sansone, who believes COVID-19 treatments are “biological and technological weapons.” He also takes credit for creating the “Ban the Jab” movement to stop the use of all COVID-19 injections and mRNA vaccines.

Michael T. Osterholm, professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, said if a bill criminalizing mRNA vaccines passed in Minnesota, the impacts would be deadly. He added that without mRNA, it would take experts longer to create vaccines to combat illnesses such as influenza.

“Plus, what it does is going to hinder us from any future, because right now if we had an influenza pandemic, we would not have the capacity to make enough vaccines for the world for years after the pandemic first emerged, which would be way too late,” Osterholm said.

Osterholm is also the director of the University’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. The center recently launched the Vaccine Integrity Project, which aims to help engage professionals to gather feedback and inform governments on vaccine policy and utilization in the U.S.

A survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania reported that 28% of respondents mistakenly believed that COVID-19 vaccines had caused thousands of deaths as of July 2024. This is about a 22% increase since 2021.

Skepticism and hesitancy around vaccines have started for several reasons. One is that since vaccines prevent diseases, people will forget about the threats and dangers of these diseases, Osterholm said.

“They forget what it’s like to have thousands of deaths due to measles and all these other infectious diseases,” Osterholm said. “Our challenge is keeping people motivated.”

Alongside the general public, vaccine hesitancy has made its way to the current federal administration, Osterholm said.

Support for vaccines at the federal level is also declining, with Food and Drug Administration Chairman Marty Makary saying he supports natural immunity to diseases rather than vaccinated immunity and is largely against vaccine mandates. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has criticized vaccinations for causing conditions such as autism, which is incorrect.

Osterholm said the issue with Kennedy Jr.’s comments on vaccinations is that he instills a sense of doubt in people without clearly stating whether people should or should not be vaccinated.

“HHS Secretary Kennedy’s nonsensical claims about the effectiveness of a single antigen vaccine,” Osterholm said in his podcast. “Once again, I want to make it clear that single-antigen vaccines have been and will continue to be effective against respiratory viruses, and the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is no exception.”

Another reason for the distrust in vaccines is the larger distrust in several public institutions, not just in medical sciences or public health, but in higher education and more, Osterholm said. This distrust may be because of growing misinformation and disinformation around vaccines and other medical treatments online, he added.

“If I’m a parent of a young child, I want to do the right thing,” Osterholm said. “I’m getting these mixed messages, and I don’t want to harm my child. If nothing else, I may come to the neutral position and say, ‘Well, I’m not against vaccines. I’m just going to wait and see if more information comes out.’ And they don’t get vaccinated, and then they become a case.”

It is important to get vaccinated because without those antibodies from the vaccines or from overcoming the disease yourself, people will lack lifelong protection, Osterholm said. He added that without that protection, antibodies cannot be passed down from mother to child, meaning infants and young children are put at a higher risk.

Osterholm said to get any questions or concerns about vaccines answered by a medical professional and not the internet. He said the internet can usually cater to misinformation and disinformation, while doctors have the knowledge and experience to answer questions.

“Please get the facts from your own physician or your own healthcare system,” Osterholm said. “They’re there to take care of you. They’re not there to hurt you. They’re not there to sell you something you don’t need. They’ll be honest with you.”