Imagine a world where political loyalty takes precedence over data, facts need to conform to ideology, and scientific experts are nuisances to be ridden from post. Congratulations, you’ve just entered the world of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary whose recent efforts to undermine the work of career scientists and endanger the American public has included the sacking of the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (three weeks into the job), firing 600 CDC staff members, and attacking lifesaving vaccination programmes.
It’s thirsty work being a Trump-picked secretary: the US Department of Health and Human Services cut mRNA vaccine funding by $500mn, just before children return to school from the summer break, while the FDA is severely limiting those eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine.
However, the wicked’s work is never done and if such an unthinkably dangerous course of action is allowed to be taken – without unilateral cooperation between all political parties and the scientific community – then it is not only the health of the American people at risk, but everyone on earth.
Dangerous falsehoods in US healthcare
Kennedy – former chair of the anti-vaccination advocacy group, Children’s Health Defense – has always made it clear the truth will never get in the way of a good yarn. In 2013, at a conference for parents who have children with autism, Kennedy told a story about the CDC turning down a past offer from the “vaccination industry” to remove harmful material from vaccines – likening the CDC to a “Nazi death camp”.
Again in 2022, Kennedy would decry efforts to save lives, condemning the vaccine policies in the US as the actions of a totalitarian state – even saying Anne Frank was better off hiding from the Nazis.
This is but a taster of the reckless falsehoods Kennedy said before entering office. But morality, truth and the pursuit of a healthier world take the greatest hit now, where efforts to improve life-saving technologies and combat potential pandemics and global health disasters together are being slashed before our eyes.
Agenda trumps all
So how is it that a member of government office is allowed to attack vital public health safeguards unimpeded? With a remit from the White House.
On sacking the CDC director Susan Monarez, the White House stated she was “not aligned with the president’s agenda”. Commenting through her lawyers, Monarez cited her ousting as the consequence of refusing to “rubber stamp” unscientific directives and fire health experts. The director joins over 600 CDC employees sacked in August, with three senior officials resigning in protest of Kennedy’s gutting of the institution.
Demetre Daskalakis, one of the resigning officials, confirms the horrible truth, stating he’s “unable to serve” in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies that do not reflect scientific reality and hurt rather than improve public health. In all this chaos, one thing is clear: agenda trumps all, gold-standard science and a healthy public included.
Yes-men over experts
The administration’s plan to “make America healthy again” is simple: remove scientists with decades of expert knowledge when they come to blows with unscientific policy; replace them with Trump-aligned yes-men.
Take Monarez’s replacement: Jim O’Neil, a former speechwriter for the health department, who went on to work with conservative megadonor Peter Thiel. Much like RFK, O’Neil has no training in infectious disease and has voiced backing for Covid treatments unsupported by scientific evidence. It’s not hard to see how Monarez – a former microbiologist and dedicated health official – is a liability for an administration that values policy over scientific reality.
Or turn to June, when the health secretary removed a panel of 17 independent vaccine experts, parachuting in members who are critical or completely dismissive of US vaccine efforts.
The worst part? This isn’t over. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has hinted at yet more firings at the CDC, once again slowing the essential work being done at the institution and putting more lives at risk.
Unprecedented risk to global public health
Ordinary Americans will feel the trauma of the erosion of public health safeguards. The FDA’s decision to limit the eligibility of those who can receive the Covid-19 vaccine could significantly hamstring the effectiveness of vaccination efforts across the country. This upcoming winter will be the first where the US government has not recommended widespread vaccinations, leaving children and the most vulnerable susceptible to severe illness. Covid-19 has not gone away. Removing those with the tools to safely and effectively combat the virus will ensure it stays.
But the US does not suffer in a vacuum. Kennedy’s actions combined with the Department of State cancelling USAID operations – the government’s main overseas aid agency, which tackles poverty and inequality worldwide – makes the world more vulnerable to disease and death.
Already, the cancellation of USAID has ended a longstanding public health programme to collect information about maternal/child health and mortality, HIV and various other health indicators in 90 low and middle income nations. Without accurate data, experts can only dream of producing effective measures to identify vulnerable communities and stop outbreaks before they spiral.
The human cost of ignorance
This is just the start. Nicholas Enrich, a former official at USAID, estimates the cuts will bring 18 million additional cases of malaria a year – including more than 28,000 new cases of Ebola and Marburg. Without the assistance of water and hygiene programmes – through which USAID provided clean, accessible drinking water for the world’s most vulnerable populations – climate change-impacted areas like Sub-Saharan Africa will be left exposed to water-borne disease.
More than ever, climate change is working in tandem with antimicrobial-resistant viruses. The UN expects AMR to cause 10 million deaths by 2050, with warming climates expanding the reach of mosquito-breeding into previously malaria-free zones, increasing water temperatures and enabling AMR to propagate, and leaving the world vulnerable to unprecedented risk.
The Trump Administration’s decision to slash $5bn in foreign aid hampers our collective ability to live long, healthy lives. But viruses do not wear MAGA hats, and without immediate reconsideration we will pay the price of the administration’s ignorance.
