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RFK Jr. targets the nation's public health infrastructure with brutal layoffs and cuts
The public knew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would pursue a radical agenda, but it doesn’t make the new developments less terrifying.
https://bsky.app/profile/ldog562.bsky.social/post/3lltrjkghos2s
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/rfk-jr-kennedy-public-health-hhs-layoffs-rcna199271
Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a conspiracy theorist whom Republicans put in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, left little doubt that he would soon announce mass layoffs at the federal agency. Unfortunately, as NBC News reported, he did exactly that this week.
Dr. Robert Califf, the former FDA commissioner, said the agency as Americans have come to know it, is now “finished.” The New York Times added that the agency has now lost nearly all of its traditionally nonpolitical experts on food, drugs, vaccines and medical devices......
What’s more, for Kennedy and his radical agenda, it’s the latest in a series of related steps. Indeed, the layoffs come on the heels of free measles vaccine clinics closing in Texas — during a measles outbreak — because of Kennedy’s HHS cuts.
That came on the heels of Dr. Peter Marks, who oversaw the FDA’s vaccine division as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, resigning at least in part because of Kennedy promoting “misinformation and lies” in his claims about vaccine safety.
Which came on the heels of RFK Jr. making a bizarre choice to oversee research on the nonexistent connection between vaccines and autism.
Which came on the heels of news of some measles patients in Texas getting worse because people followed bad advice they got from Kennedy during a Fox News interview.......
Which came on the heels of the department also canceling funding “for dozens of studies seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that may cause future pandemics.”
Did I mention that these developments — literally all of them — are from just the last week? Because they are.
On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, partnered with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in calling Kennedy to testify about his “proposed reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services.”
That’s a worthwhile move, though I wish the hearing had been held before Kennedy started dismantling the nation’s public health infrastructure, not after.
The Trump administration carried out mass layoffs across the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, aiming to slash around 10,000 full-time jobs from the federal agencies long tasked with regulating food and drugs and overseeing the nation’s public health policies. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is trying to reduce HHS’ workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 across several agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Robert Califf, the former FDA commissioner, said the agency as Americans have come to know it, is now “finished.” The New York Times added that the agency has now lost nearly all of its traditionally nonpolitical experts on food, drugs, vaccines and medical devices......
What’s more, for Kennedy and his radical agenda, it’s the latest in a series of related steps. Indeed, the layoffs come on the heels of free measles vaccine clinics closing in Texas — during a measles outbreak — because of Kennedy’s HHS cuts.
That came on the heels of Dr. Peter Marks, who oversaw the FDA’s vaccine division as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, resigning at least in part because of Kennedy promoting “misinformation and lies” in his claims about vaccine safety.
Which came on the heels of RFK Jr. making a bizarre choice to oversee research on the nonexistent connection between vaccines and autism.
Which came on the heels of news of some measles patients in Texas getting worse because people followed bad advice they got from Kennedy during a Fox News interview.......
Which came on the heels of the department also canceling funding “for dozens of studies seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that may cause future pandemics.”
Did I mention that these developments — literally all of them — are from just the last week? Because they are.
On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, partnered with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in calling Kennedy to testify about his “proposed reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services.”
That’s a worthwhile move, though I wish the hearing had been held before Kennedy started dismantling the nation’s public health infrastructure, not after.
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