At a time when bird flu is alarmingly spreading and measles is breaking out among unvaccinated schoolchildren, our nation yesterday sadly witnessed Senate approval of anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy as the new health and human services secretary.
And what a swearing-in! After Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch coached Kennedy to conclude his swearing-in with “So help me God,” Kennedy gave a public statement saying that God made the confirmation possible: “For 20 years I’ve [unclear] been on my knees every morning and prayed if God would put me in a position where I could end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country. On Aug. 23 of last year, God sent me President Trump.”
We now have not just Trump but also Kennedy, in glorious narcissism, claiming to be on a mission for God. When fanatics (or rulers cynically using religion) claim a direct pipeline to God: Watch out!
The nation’s public health is now in the hands of a notorious anti-vaccination denier with no medical credentials who Trump has ordered to “go wild” in overseeing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health care agencies. As the Freedom From Religion Foundation warned earlier, Kennedy presents a clear and present danger to public health on many fronts.
Among the most pressing issues is the growing and worrisome increase of bird flu. The much-discussed increase in the cost of eggs is the public face of the bird flu. Behind the scenes, millions of chickens have been killed to prevent the spread. Since the bird flu was detected in dairy cows last March, more than 950 herds in 16 states have been infected. A minimum of 68 people have contracted bird flu in the past year. One, a 13-year-old Canadian who tested positive in November, has finally been taken off supplemental oxygen. Now, a new study has shown that three dairy veterinarians had it, leading to fears of it becoming a silent outbreak.
Significantly, that study was supposed to have been published several weeks ago in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The news was delayed for several weeks by the Trump administration, which put an embargo on any public communications from science and health agencies. That embargo also delayed the news, then it was removed from the site that possibly cats infected with bird flu may be able to spread the virus to their household humans.
Epidemiologists around the world are watching the situation with heightened concerns that the United States may be incubating the next pandemic.
Then there is measles, one of the most infectious and dangerous of childhood diseases. How will Kennedy adequately address the measles outbreak in West Texas? There were 15 confirmed cases among school-aged children, apparently all unvaccinated, as of yesterday. Under former administrations, the CDC has reported that obtaining a 95 percent measles vaccination rate is necessary to prevent outbreaks. Currently, rates in nearly every state are lower than before the Covid pandemic, and in some states, such as Louisiana, as low as 62 percent.
We know from Kennedy’s past actions how reckless he is over children’s health. Kennedy not only lobbied U.S. lawmakers to reduce vaccinations but flew to Samoa in 2019, lobbying against vaccination programs there. Kennedy should be considered morally responsible for the infection of thousands of infants with measles and the deaths of up to 80 Samoans, primarily children, during a four-month period that year.
Hawaii Gov. Dr. Josh Green, a physician, has written how he and other volunteer physicians amassed resources that year to stem the outbreak in Samoa and save countless lives personally. As Green said, “The measles epidemic in Samoa was a heartbreaking example of how quickly things can go wrong when vaccination rates are allowed to fall. Mr. Kennedy and others fanned the flames of this fear with misinformation. Too much depends on our commitment to truth and the lifesaving power of vaccines to entrust Mr. Kennedy with the direction of these programs. Our children’s lives depend on it.”
The U.S. Senate did not listen to Green, or to reason or to simple common sense, and has confirmed him as a public health menace who disturbingly believes that he’s on a mission of God to give “infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
God won’t help us — but public protest might.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With nearly 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
