Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr (we should just start to call him Bob Kennedy, in order not to besmirch his long departed father) has been correct once since his appointment to the role. During a House hearing in May, Kennedy stated (in a question regarding his view on child vaccinations) “I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me”. Unfortunately, this has not stopped him from giving medical advice and gutting the government agencies responsible for providing that advice. Ultimately, the United States is less safe than at any point in the past 50 years.

Kennedy is a serial conspiracy theorist, promoting eugenic theories, connecting vaccines with autism, claiming that the COVID vaccine is deadly, and promoting controversial and debunked medical treatments. The consequences of putting him in charge of an agency responsible for the safety of our food supply, drug supply, Medicare and Medicaid, and the foremost public health agency in the country (CDC) was bound to be a disaster. We just couldn’t grasp the epic proportions of the decision at the time. In a matter of months, Kennedy has ousted all of the members of a voluntary panel for making vaccine recommendations, fired two different heads of the CDC (one that he selected for appointment), and is expected to fire all of the members of the US Preventative Services Task Force (more medical volunteers who set standards for what must be included in most health insurance coverage in the country). The common theme: the government must endorse his conspiracy theories, science be damned.

Science appears to be striking back. Susan Monarez, the now-former CDC Director who was confirmed by the Senate a mere month ago, refused to resign in the face demands that she kow-tow to conspiracy instead of science. While the White House claimed that she was not ‘aligned with their agenda’, Monarez could concur – she was aligned with scientific findings, no matter where those findings might take America. In her wake, four other CDC leaders resigned in protest (including the Chief Science and Medical Officer, as well as the head of the Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases). Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican Chair of the committee overseeing HHS, has called for a cancellation of the upcoming vaccine advisory meeting (an advisory council filled with vaccine conspiracy threorists) and any recommendations from them rejected as lacking legitimacy (if only he had this kind of spine during the confirmation hearings, we would not be writing about this today). Medical journals have been rejecting the threats of Sec. Kennedy regarding publication of research in the premier medical journals (NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet). The American Academy of Pediatrics have issued their own COVID vaccine recommendations, in conflict with those adopted by the CDC. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have done the same.

This week’s cautionary tale about the intentions of autocrats to shape government in their own distorted image also illustrates the limitations of such efforts. While the CDC changes its focus from disease control to disease conspiracies, the free society is standing up strongly to assert the findings of credible science. The next step needs to be the health insurance companies following the legitimate medical establishment in making their coverage decisions, in lieu of the shelled out illegitimate CDC.

And the national disgrace continues…