Stop him before he kills more people
“We are compelled to speak with one voice to say that the
actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are
endangering the health of the nation,” they wrote. “Never before have we issued
a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented
threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot
be ignored.”
Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.
The op-ed by Jerome Adams, MD, Richard
Carmona, MD, MPH, Joycelyn Elders, MD, Vivek Murthy, MD, Antonia
Novello, MD, MPH, and David Satcher, MD, PhD, said Kennedy has
created a crisis in the nation’s public health system and health agencies,
which is resulting in mass resignations, short staffing, a resurgence of
infectious diseases, and worsening chronic illnesses.
As HHS secretary, Kennedy has a $2 trillion budget and helms
Medicare, Medicaid, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and other
agencies that each American uses, the doctors wrote.
The opinion piece warns that under Kennedy more childhood
vaccines will be in jeopardy, including newborn hepatitis B, which was the
subject of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) September
meeting.
Moreover, they said the three measles deaths the country
experienced this year as part of a wider outbreak were preventable. They also
said Kennedy has repeated conspiracy theories that contributed to the targeting
of the very staff he is charged with protecting in the wake of the attack on
the CDC in August.
“Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not
entitled to put people’s health at risk. He has rejected science, misled the
public and compromised the health of Americans,” the opinion piece said.
Psychiatric organization also
call for Kennedy's removal
Two leading psychiatric organizations also called for the
removal of Kennedy today, noting cuts to the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the federal agency responsible for
supporting states and localities with overdose prevention.
The Southern California Psychiatric Society (SCPS) and
the Committee to Protect Public
Mental Health each issued statements saying Kennedy spouts
dangerous ideas, including the idea of putting homeless people on “wellness
farms” and saying common antidepressants are more addictive than heroin.
The SCPS in its statement said Kennedy misrepresented
psychotropic medications in the Make America Health Again report.
“The report uses these inaccurate statements as a basis for taking action to restrict access to critical services that ease suffering, restore functioning, and prevent suicide,” the statement said. “Without these critical services, criminalization and expanded use of civil commitment will curtail the ability of individuals with mental illness to lead productive lives.”
O’Neill calls for monovalent measles, mumps, rubella
vaccines
Acting Director of the CDC Jim
O’Neill announced on X that he is calling for the measles, mumps, and rubella
(MMR) vaccine to be separated into three monovalent (single-strain) vaccines
after Donald Trump made the suggestion last month.
“I call on vaccine manufacturers to develop safe monovalent
vaccines to replace the combined MMR and “break up the MMR shot into three
totally separate shots,” O’Neill’s post said. The idea to separate
the vaccine may be tied to ideas common among anti-vaccine proponents who
believe vaccines overwhelm a child’s immune system.
There is no evidence that monovalent vaccines are more safe
or efficacious than the MMR, which has been in use in the United States since
1971.