Kareem Takes on the News
Kareem talks Robert Kennedy Jr. and his ramblings as the Secretary of Health. It is pretty obvious in front of Congress he is not up to the job. Neither is he capable to direct the citizens of the United States. Over the last few years, it was pretty easy to get a Covid vaccination. Just show up at your local drug store for either brand at no cost. This year, it was you need script for the Covid shot, then you did not, and then you had to see your doctor first to get the script. This entails an office visit. The VA still does not have the Covid vaccines.
Robert Kennedy flailing around as the Secretary of Health.
We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health: Nine former leaders of the CDC—Republicans and Democrats—issue a dire warning about the dangers of RFK Jr.’s leadership. It’s worse than you thought.
1, We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health (The New York Times): Nine former directors and acting directors of the C.D.C. under both Republican and Democratic administrations wrote a scary editorial warning America of the dangerous threat that RFK Jr. is to all Americans: “We are worried about the wide-ranging impact that all these decisions will have on America’s health security. Residents of rural communities and people with disabilities will have even more limited access to health care. Families with low incomes who rely most heavily on community health clinics and support from state and local health departments will have fewer resources available to them. Children risk losing access to lifesaving vaccines because of the cost.”
Following that devastating essay came another shocking revelation: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases in response to the firing of C.D.C. Director Susan Monarez, reported that RFK Jr. has never actually been briefed by C.D.C. experts before making major public health decisions. The question then is where is Kennedy getting his information, if not from the experts in his own organization? It’s worth noting that almost every study or expert Kennedy has cited has proven to be untrustworthy or scientifically suspect. Dr. Daskalakis’s resignation said that he was “unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.”
During the recent Senate Finance Committee hearings in which both Republicans and Democrats grilled RFK Jr., he replied with aggression but without facts. He stood by his controversial stances on vaccines, autism, Medicaid, and the C.D.C., as if stubbornness were some sort of badge of honor. What he didn’t have were facts, studies, or respected experts to back any of those stances. Even his former supporters were impatient with his misinformation and illogical policies. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who had endorsed Kennedy’s confirmation, argued, “Effectively, we’re denying people vaccine.”
For me, the most telling part of the hearing was when Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the highest ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, asked that Kennedy be sworn in before his testimony. However, Committee chair Mike Crapo (R-ID) refused to swear in Kennedy. That allowed Kennedy to offer up testimony filled with lies, contradictions, and misinformation. It also exposed the GOP as endorsing those lies and misinformation.
Kennedy is like a guy brandishing a knife as he roams through a crowded shopping mall. The shoppers avoid him, hoping he won’t stab them, but nobody tries to stop him because he’s related to the mall’s owner. How many casualties are we willing to sacrifice out of fear and cowardice?
FYI: Following RFK Jr.’s indefensible firing of C.D.C. Director Susan Monarez, over 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services employees issued an open letter calling for RFK Jr. to either resign or be fired. (“Over 1,000 HHS staffers call on Trump to fire RFK Jr. for “endangering the nation’s health.”) The letter explained that he was “endangering the nation’s health.” When every respected expert tells us that the man is destroying our nation’s health, maybe it’s time to do something about it.