Stephen Colbert slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his decision to cut $500 million in vaccine funding. On 'The Late Show', Colbert mocked Kennedy's move to eliminate 22 mRNA-related projects, calling it a dangerous step backwards. "That's the latest vacc...

Making America sick again

Six months into Donald J. Trump's presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Making America Healthy Again" agenda is undermining its own promise.

In May, without scientific review or supporting data, Kennedy announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children or pregnant women. This defied the consensus of major medical organizations, ignored the elevated risks to pregnant patients, and left the most vulnerable, infants under six months and those with chronic illness, at greater risk. The American Academy of Pediatrics is now suing.

In June, Kennedy fired every expert on the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, replacing them with well-known anti-vaccine advocates. He justified the purge by claiming "significant financial conflicts", a charge not supported by public records, while his new appointees have yet to disclose their own conflicts two months in.

On Aug. 5, Kennedy slashed $500 million from mRNA vaccine research, dismissing the technology as "the deadliest vaccine ever made." Never mind that mRNA vaccines developed under Trump's Operation Warp Speed project, are credited with saving at least 2.5 million U.S. lives and earned the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Undermining a safe, proven immunization program erodes decades of public health progress and, most importantly, public trust. The Aug. 8 attack when a gunman fired 200 rounds at CDC buildings filled with civil servants, killing a responding police officer tragically shows the real-world consequences of misinformation and the discrediting of scientific expertise. Our public health system is not just under pressure -- it is struggling to survive.

Vaccines and medical research save lives. Misinformation takes them. If we want to "Make America Healthy Again," the choice is obvious.

ROBERT BRENNAN, MD

Lynchburg

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