RFK Jr.’s pointless dismantling of the nation’s public health system places us all at risk | Editorial

Among the already long list of seismic damage to the United States that will forever tarnish Donald Trump’s legacy, his ruin of public health will be one of the most pervasive and diabolical.

People have already died in the wake of Trump’s reckless decision to let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild” on America’s vaunted public health system.

Many more will likely get sick and perish because Kennedy, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, continues to spread misinformation, undermine vaccine efficacy, gut medical research, and eliminate thousands of jobs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

All of his willful pigheadedness was on full display during his Senate testimony Thursday when he responded to the bipartisan grilling of his attacks on public health with bluster and disdain, but no facts or science. Just smugly asserting hogwash doesn’t make it enlightenment.

In just a few months, RFK Jr. has slashed programs aimed at protecting Americans from cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. He has canceled funding for medical research, leaving the country vulnerable to everyday health challenges and future pandemics.

Kennedy has replaced federal health experts with unqualified lackeys. He ended support for global vaccination programs that protect children, and backed a rule change that will cause millions of people to lose their health coverage.

During a deadly measles outbreak in Texas earlier this year, he absurdly touted treating the infection with vitamin A and cod liver oil.

It’s as if HHS is now run by Clark Stanley, the infamous 1890s snake oil salesman.

The U.S. once led the world in public health and scientific advancement. But under Trump, the country has become a plague.

A recent report by the presidential Make America Healthy Again Commission cited studies that do not exist.

On his first day back in office, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization — a reckless move that leaves our nation and the planet at increased risk of public health crises, including another pandemic.

Of course, Trump’s mismanagement of the last pandemic — which included poor planning, downplaying the threat, promoting unproven treatments, mocking mask wearing, delaying testing, and holding superspreader events — resulted in tens of thousands of needless deaths and economic hardship for many.

And that was when Trump was surrounded by serious public health professionals. To his credit, Operation Warp Speed delivered a COVID-19 vaccine in record time that saved millions of lives.

But those days are long gone, as Kennedy, an anti-vaxxer, pointlessly dismantles America’s public health system in record time.

Measles was eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, but vaccine skepticism spread by RFK Jr. and others has led to a deadly comeback.

In just the first six months of 2025, there have been more measles cases than in any year since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter century ago. There have been 35 outbreaks in 42 states — including Pennsylvania — and at least three deaths.

Public health officials fear lagging vaccinations could lead to a resurgence in polio, a highly contagious virus that causes paralysis and death.

Such backsliding is unprecedented. Polio was eradicated across most of the world, but an unvaccinated person in New York contracted the virus in 2022.

It’s as if HHS is now run by Clark Stanley, the infamous 1890s snake oil salesman.

There has been a surge in COVID cases across the country, leading to increased hospitalizations. A recent wave of outbreaks in California prompted health officials there to urge residents to wear masks.

Meanwhile, Kennedy is making it harder to get COVID shots — and his frivolity is spreading.

Florida became the first state to join the anti-vax movement by pushing to end all vaccine mandates for schoolchildren. That irresponsible and misguided move will lead to the spread of disease across the country, especially if other red states join in.

Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor who promoted sham treatments and somehow oversees Medicaid and Medicare for the Trump administration, joined the quack parade by voicing support for eliminating vaccination requirements.

This would all make for a preposterous slapstick comedy, except that the health and safety of the country are at stake.

Few things are viler than politicizing public health — especially since Trump and RFK Jr. have put children at risk.

Kennedy has played on people’s vulnerabilities by claiming vaccines cause autism. Social media — along with some celebrities — fueled the spread of misinformation about vaccines.

For the record: Numerous studies have found no link between vaccines and autism.

But Kennedy — who has no medical training or expertise in public health policy — has promoted fringe medical theories for years.

Beyond spreading anti-vax conspiracies, RFK Jr. is a hypocrite. He had his own kids vaccinated, and said he would probably get his kids vaccinated for measles today. He has also benefited financially by suing pharmaceutical companies over vaccines.

Kennedy has no business overseeing America’s public health.

More than 1,000 HHS staffers called on Trump to fire him. Nine former heads of HHS, who served under Republican and Democratic administrations, detailed the ways Kennedy was endangering every American’s health.

Nearly two dozen medical, public health, and patient organizations called on him to resign, citing how he has undermined the health of the American people by curtailing food safety efforts, disease prevention, and emergency response.

His malicious actions since taking control of HHS border on criminal, as he robs Americans of their ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

RFK Jr. upended COVID vaccine policy, making it harder to get shots that help prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

He canceled $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccines — the pathbreaking technology developed by two University of Pennsylvania professors that underpinned the COVID vaccine that saved millions of lives and has shown promise in treating cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inherited conditions such as sickle cell disease.

Kennedy removed all 17 members of the expert panel that makes vaccine policy recommendations to the CDC and replaced them with unqualified vaccine skeptics. He then ousted the head of the public health agency, Susan Monarez, one month after her confirmation, when she refused to go along with his quackery. Four other CDC leaders quit in protest.

Instead of investing in lifesaving programs, the Trump administration plans to slash the CDC budget by more than half and eliminate nearly 20% of the staff.

All to accomplish what?

RFK Jr.’s actions are shocking but not surprising.

After Kennedy was nominated by Trump to lead Health and Human Services, few lawmakers could reasonably argue he was remotely qualified to oversee HHS — including all the Republican senators who voted to confirm him. Yet, some of the same senators expressed outrage at Kennedy during a hearing on Thursday.

The only GOP senator to vote against Kennedy’s confirmation as HHS secretary was Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor. “I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures,” McConnell said in a rare display of political courage.

Caroline Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador and daughter of late President John F. Kennedy, said before the Senate confirmation hearings that her cousin’s views on vaccines were “dangerous and willfully misinformed.”

Thousands of doctors and public health officials opposed Kennedy’s HHS nomination. (A letter supporting RFK Jr. included doctors who had their licenses revoked, suspended, or faced other discipline, as well as many who are not doctors.)

Despite Kennedy’s heedless tenure, Trump continues to stand by his man — even if it means making America sicker and placing us all at risk.