By William Foege, William Roper, David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser,Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Rochelle P. Walensky and Mandy K. Cohen
New York Times
(The authors previously led the C.D.C., as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations.)
We have each had the honor and privilege of serving as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, either in a permanent or an acting capacity, dating back to 1977. Collectively, we spent more than 100 years working at the C.D.C., the world’s pre-eminent public health agency. We served under multiple Republican and Democratic administrations – every president from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump – alongside thousands of dedicated staff members who shared our commitment to saving lives and improving health.
What the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months – culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director days ago – is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced.
Mr. Kennedy has:
*fired thousands of federal health workers, and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more.
*Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines.
*He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill prepared for future health emergencies.
*He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views.
*He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements.
*And he championed federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage. Firing Dr. Monarez – which led to the resignations of top C.D.C. officials – adds considerable fuel to this raging fire.
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.
This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.
The C.D.C. is an agency under Health and Human Services. During our C.D.C. tenures, we did not always agree with our leaders, but they never gave us reason to doubt that they would rely on data-driven insights for our protection or that they would support public health workers. We need only look to Operation Warp Speed during the first Trump administration – which produced highly effective and safe vaccines that saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic – as a shining example of what Health and Human Services can accomplish when health and science are at the forefront of its mission.
The current department leadership, however, operates under a very different set of rules. When Mr. Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr. Monarez on July 31, he called her “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.” But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable.
These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a C.D.C. director. Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary’s demands, and we applaud Dr. Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.
When the C.D.C. was created in 1946, the average life expectancy in the United States was around 66 years. Today it is more than 78 years. While medical advances have helped, it is public health that has played the biggest role in improving both the length and the quality of life in our nation.
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.
This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.
The C.D.C. is an agency under Health and Human Services. During our C.D.C. tenures, we did not always agree with our leaders, but they never gave us reason to doubt that they would rely on data-driven insights for our protection or that they would support public health workers. We need only look to Operation Warp Speed during the first Trump administration – which produced highly effective and safe vaccines that saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic – as a shining example of what Health and Human Services can accomplish when health and science are at the forefront of its mission.
The current department leadership, however, operates under a very different set of rules. When Mr. Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr. Monarez on July 31, he called her “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.” But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable.
These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a C.D.C. director. Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary’s demands, and we applaud Dr. Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.
When the C.D.C. was created in 1946, the average life expectancy in the United States was around 66 years. Today it is more than 78 years. While medical advances have helped, it is public health that has played the biggest role in improving both the length and the quality of life in our nation.
The C.D.C. has led efforts to eradicate smallpox, increase access to lifesaving vaccinations and significantly reduce smoking rates. The agency is also on the front lines in communities across the country, delivering crucial but often less visible wins — such as containing an outbreak of H.I.V. cases in Scott County, Ind., and protecting residents in East Palestine, Ohio, from toxic chemical exposure.
The C.D.C. is not perfect. What institution is? But over its history, regardless of which party has controlled the White House or Congress, the agency has not wavered from its mission. To those on the C.D.C. staff who continue to perform their jobs heroically in the face of the excruciating circumstances, we offer our sincere thanks and appreciation.
The C.D.C. is not perfect. What institution is? But over its history, regardless of which party has controlled the White House or Congress, the agency has not wavered from its mission. To those on the C.D.C. staff who continue to perform their jobs heroically in the face of the excruciating circumstances, we offer our sincere thanks and appreciation.
Their ongoing dedication is a model for all of us. But it’s clear that the agency is hurting badly. The loss of Dr. Monarez and other top leaders will make it far more difficult for the C.D.C. to do what it has done for about 80 years: work around the clock to protect Americans from threats to their lives and health.
We have a message for the rest of the nation as well. This is a time to rally to protect the health of every American. Congress must exercise its oversight authority over Health and Human Services. State and local governments must fill funding gaps where they can. Philanthropy and the private sector must step up their community investments. Medical groups must continue to stand up for science and truth. Physicians must continue to support their patients with sound guidance and empathy.
And each of us must do what public health does best: look out for one another.
The men and women who have joined the C.D.C. across generations have done so not for prestige or power but because they believe deeply in the call to service. They deserve a health and human services secretary who stands up for health, supports science and has their back. So, too, does our country.
We have a message for the rest of the nation as well. This is a time to rally to protect the health of every American. Congress must exercise its oversight authority over Health and Human Services. State and local governments must fill funding gaps where they can. Philanthropy and the private sector must step up their community investments. Medical groups must continue to stand up for science and truth. Physicians must continue to support their patients with sound guidance and empathy.
And each of us must do what public health does best: look out for one another.
The men and women who have joined the C.D.C. across generations have done so not for prestige or power but because they believe deeply in the call to service. They deserve a health and human services secretary who stands up for health, supports science and has their back. So, too, does our country.
7 comments:
Yes! And the sky is falling! A continuation of the fake media.
Montoya you're getting out of touch with your audience we've moved on from the corporate media. You keep re-posting articles from NYTimes, WaPo, Wall Street, CNN, MSNBC, AP, Reuters, Fox News, but what covid thought us is they lied to us. It's all Propaganda. All these crooks paid and bought by the Military Contractors, Big Pharma, and Big Tech. No matter what color it is Democrat or Republican. It's all one big Payola.
Return to what we the reader became your fans. Blue-collar journalism- unmasking the corruption of local politics.
Yea We get it's a dirty job, and yea the City is growing harder to track. And Yea We know it You ain't gonna get a Pulitzer. But somebody has to do it. Somebody has to put them crooks on check cos the majority of us are working to death just so these theives run with our hard earn living.
Somebody has to do it.
Not take. It is a system against people. Sell sugar to children, get them obese, get sick, die young. Repeat the cycle. The companies get more money but the owners and their families are into good food and healthy life styles. Figure that out.
Make America Health Again! MAHA movement ! Don't like it leave the country.
Hey stupid, you posted the same thing about covid! How did that work out for you? Dumb ass!
So the thousands of people that died because of COVID-19 were lied to? Did any one of your relatives succumb to this variant? Wow! You are a dumb-ass, my friend.
Florida has made immunizations voluntary. Vaccines that have been effective against a slew of childhood diseases are no longer mandatory to enroll your children in school. Why would any sane parent gamble with their child's health? A minor neglected injury without a tetanus shot can lead to death. An excruciating death. I will take science over thoughts and prayers
any day.
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