Experts call on US Health Secretary RFK Jr to resign over misinformation

Health experts said Kennedy’s ‘repeated efforts to undermine subject and nationalist health’ person near Americans ‘less safe’.

More than 20 wellness groups and aesculapian associations person called connected Robert F Kennedy Jr to measurement down arsenic the United States’ wellness secretary, accusing him of putting lives astatine hazard by disregarding decades of lifesaving subject and reversing aesculapian progress.

In a associated connection published connected Wednesday, the groups – including the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Public Health Association, and the American Association of Immunologists – said Kennedy is forcing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts to “turn their backmost connected decades of dependable science” to further his agenda.

The groups besides accused Kennedy of “repeated efforts to undermine subject and nationalist health”, leaving Americans “less harmless successful a multitude of ways”.

“Our state needs enactment that volition beforehand open, honorable dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, dispersed misinformation, reverse aesculapian advancement and decimate programs that support america safe,” the connection said.

“We are gravely acrophobic that American radical volition needlessly endure and dice arsenic a effect of policies that crook distant from dependable interventions,” it added.

The missive comes aft aggregate erstwhile CDC directors said past week that Kennedy’s decisions are putting Americans’ wellness astatine risk, aft helium fired the agency’s director, Susan Monarez, little than a period aft she was sworn in.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai said Monarez was not “aligned with” President Donald Trump’s docket and refused to resign, truthful the White House terminated her.

Monarez’s lawyers said she had been targeted arsenic she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and occurrence dedicated wellness experts”.

Her departure coincided with the resignations of astatine slightest 4 different apical CDC officials successful effect to Kennedy’s power implicit the agency.

In a societal media station connected Wednesday, Kennedy said his ngo was “to reconstruct the CDC’s absorption connected infectious disease” and “rebuild spot done transparency and competence”.

Kennedy – who has agelong been accused of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation – has made sweeping changes to US vaccine policies since being appointed by Trump, causing friction with wellness officials.

In May, helium withdrew national recommendations for COVID shots for large women and steadfast children. In June, helium besides fired each members of the CDC’s adept vaccine advisory sheet and replaced them with hand-picked advisers, including chap anti-vaccine activists.

In August, helium past cancelled astir $500m successful funding for mRNA vaccine probe successful a determination wellness experts said could marque the US overmuch much susceptible to aboriginal outbreaks of respiratory viruses.

Kennedy said the US volition displacement mRNA backing to different vaccine improvement technologies that are “safer” and “remain effective”.

The International Vaccine Access Center astatine Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health credits mRNA vaccines with preventing millions of deaths from COVID-19, saying the innovative exertion has the imaginable to dainty diseases specified arsenic crab and HIV.

Most recently, connected August 20, hundreds of national wellness employees wrote to Kennedy imploring him to “stop spreading inaccurate wellness information” and for him to either resign oregon beryllium fired.

Signatories accused Kennedy of “sowing nationalist mistrust by questioning the integrity and morality” of the CDC’s workforce, including by calling the nationalist wellness bureau a “cesspool of corruption”.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies