… and it’ll be a real shame if something happens to it. Well, something may, because a re-elected Trump will appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, in effect putting a conspiracy theorist in charge of federal oversight over Americans’ health. This despite the fact, MSNBC says here, that
“Kennedy’s deep misunderstanding of health sciences has alarmed experts … He has demonized vaccines; suggested that ‘Wi-Fi radiation’ could be causing autism, food allergies and chronic illnesses; blamed mass shootings on anti-depressants; questioned whether HIV causes AIDS; said chemicals in the water supply have led more minors to identify as transgender; and claimed that Covid is ‘ethnically targeted’ in a way that gives Jewish and Chinese people greater immunity to the disease.”
This appointment might be a political reward for endorsing Trump and sucking up to him. It requires Senate confirmation. If the Senate was a board of scientists, he wouldn’t be confirmed. But it isn’t; Trump will have a 53-47 Senate majority, made up of politicians eager to please him, and, frankly, suck up to him.
These GOP politicians don’t necessarily believe in science anyway. And Trump, “While running for president last year, … told NBC News that he wanted to gut public health agencies and stack them with officials who shared his beliefs.”
It’s a disaster-in-the-making for public health, but not necessarily for health in general. The federal government doesn’t license hospitals, doctors, nurses, or other health care professionals; the states do. Doctors probably will still be allowed to use professional judgment in making health care decisions for their patients. And if we’re real lucky, trained scientists who don’t share RKF Jr.’s paranoid delusions about medicines may still be the people evaluating the safety and efficacy of drugs.
With, maybe, one exception: Since RFK Jr.’s department oversees the Food and Drug Administration, something may happen to Mifepristone, the abortion drug, not based on any scientific or medical criteria, but driven by politically-motivated orders from above.