HHS Lays Off All Full-Time Cruise Ship Health Inspectors Amid Illness Outbreaks: Report
April 11: A federal team tasked with preventing, investigating and responding to public health illnesses on cruise ships has reportedly been dramatically slashed amid budgetary cuts by the Department of Health and Human Services.
All full-time employees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) have been laid off, leaving just 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers left to handle current and future ship inspections, CBS News reported citing multiple officials.
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RFK Jr. Says We'll Soon Know What's Fueling The Autism Epidemic — And His Prediction Is Absolutely Wild
April 10: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared Thursday that “by September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic,” setting a timeline of five months for identifying the growth of a disorder that has been heavily researched for decades across the globe.
“We are going to know by September,” Kennedy declared at a Trump Cabinet meeting, while crediting this forecast to his launch of a federal study that he reportedly tapped a fellow vaccine skeptic to oversee. “We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world. By September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.”
RFK Jr. Is Coming After Fluoride — Here's What You Should Know
April 8: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending water fluoridation nationwide.
“It makes no sense to have [fluoride] in our water supply,” Kennedy told reporters during a visit to Utah. “I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban it, and I hope many more will come.”
But what exactly is fluoride? What does it do? And why are people like Kennedy calling for its removal from public water systems? We asked experts to break down the debate.
RFK Jr.'s Bogus Vitamin A Claims Are Making Some Measles Patients More Sick
March 28: More and more people are becoming infected in the ongoing measles outbreak in West Texas, New Mexico and beyond. More than 500 people have tested positive for the illness in Texas and there are hundreds more cases reported in other states. The disease has killed two unvaccinated children in Texas and is suspected in the death of an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently said in a Fox News interview that the government is “delivering vitamin A” to West Texas to battle the outbreak, and “they’re getting very, very good results from budesonide, which is a steroid ... and clarithromycin [an antibiotic], and also cod liver oil, which has high concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin D.” He also promoted the use of vitamin A for measles treatment in a recent Fox News opinion piece.
While his statements refer to the treatment of measles in a medical setting, medical experts told HuffPost that they worry Kennedy’s focus on vitamin A and cod liver oil could encourage parents of unvaccinated children, or unvaccinated people themselves, to try supplementation as prevention or treatment at home — which is exactly what’s now happening in West Texas. At a Texas children’s hospital, unvaccinated kids with severe cases of measles are also being treated for vitamin A toxicity, which suggests that the children were given the vitamin before hospitalization. There’s also increased demand for cod liver oil at local stores, according to Texas Public Radio.
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A Vaccine Skeptic Has Been Hired To Lead A Controversial Autism Study — And Medical Experts Are Appalled
March 27: The vaccine skepticism of the current administration is well known at this point. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has a history of sharing misinformation about vaccines, and both Kennedy and President Donald Trump have spread the idea that vaccines are linked to autism, a notion that has been debunked time and time again.
But the fact that this idea has been disproven is not stopping the Trump administration from establishing a large-scale federal study looking at the “link” between vaccines and autism, and the Washington Post reported that David Geier, a known vaccine skeptic, has been hired to head the analysis.
According to the Washington Post, Geier has touted anti-vaccine beliefs and, along with his father, has published papers, including some that are now retracted, about the “link” between vaccines and autism, which has, once again, been debunked. Doctors and scientists are appalled by this appointment and worried about what it could mean for the future of vaccinations in the U.S.
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How Doctors Really Feel About The Trump Admin's 'Make America Healthy Again' Plan
Feb. 20: The White House released a Make America Healthy Again Commission executive order that outlines a host of goals with a main purpose of addressing chronic disease in adults and children. “Make America Healthy Again” is a Trump campaign promise and now commission that’s led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was recently appointed Health and Human Services Secretary. The commission has an overarching goal of reducing the prevalence of chronic illness in Americans and looking at the “over-reliance” on certain medications, such as weight-loss drugs, mood stabilizers and ADHD medication. It also cites the rising rates of autism and ADHD, and the United States’ lower life expectancy when compared to other countries.
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Trump Admin's Disturbing Changes On LGBTQ+ Health Data Are Worrying Medical Experts
Feb. 4: Members of the LGBTQ+ community, and transgender people in particular, are currently facing a massive blackout of crucial health information and scientific research. Following a flurry of executive orders from President Donald Trump, webpages on topics like LGBTQ+ health and safety were removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website and funding was halted on certain topics related to LGBTQ+ health.
Experts told HuffPost that they’re concerned about these moves, and about the health and safety of queer people.
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RFK Jr.'s Stunning Claim About Black People And Vaccines Sparks Concern From Medical Experts
Jan. 31: During Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) brought up a comment that Kennedy once made about vaccinations and the Black community. In 2021, Kennedy had said, “We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites, because their immune system is better than ours.”
Alsobrooks asked Kennedy to explain what he meant by that remark, and he went on to reference a “series of studies” while saying research shows that “Blacks need fewer antigens.” For the record, experts say that this is not true — and is a very problematic thought.
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