A medical assistant prepares a dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for a young patient in Seattle last month. Lindsey Wasson/AP

The Big Cities Health Coalition is the latest group to take a strong public stand in support of vaccination as a direct response to concerns that the federal government is limiting access and raising doubts.

“We are united behind a simple message: get vaccinated,” the group wrote in a statement that was published Monday. It was signed by two dozen public health leaders from some of the nation’s largest cities, in both Democrat- and Republican-led states.

Vaccination has saved millions of lives, they wrote, but falling vaccination rates across the country have led to more frequent outbreaks of devastating diseases such as measles and polio. They a

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