Six former U.S. surgeon generals have publicly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling his leadership a “serious, immediate and unprecedented threat” to the health and safety of Americans.
A letter published in washington postWritten by Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, Joycelyn Elders, Vivek Murthy, Antonia Novello, and David Satcher. They have both served as surgeons and have jointly served under every Republican and Democratic president since George HW Bush.
The Surgeon General warned that Kennedy was “threatening the health of the nation.”
A bipartisan letter from the Surgeon General essentially calling for the removal of a DHHS director is unprecedented.
“In recent months, we have watched with increasing alarm as the foundations of our nation’s public health system are being undermined,” the letter reads. “Science and expertise have taken a backseat to ideology and misinformation. Morale in health organizations has plummeted and talent is fleeing the face of growing threats, from resurgent infectious diseases to worsening chronic diseases.”
The letter calls for leaders who “respect scientific integrity and transparency, listen to experts, and restore trust in federal health agencies.”
Instead, Kennedy became the driving force behind the crisis.”
The letter follows President Donald Trump and Kennedy’s joint announcement that Tylenol use by pregnant women is a leading cause of autism in children.
Before that, Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic and one of the most vocal doubters when the COVID-19 vaccine became available, made it clear that he wanted to rework the country’s vaccine policy.
“Kennedy spent decades advancing dangerous and discredited claims about vaccines, most notoriously the completely discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism,” the letter says. “He promoted misinformation about the HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer, and repeatedly misrepresented the risks of mRNA technology and coronavirus vaccines, despite their life-saving impact during the pandemic.”
Last June, Kennedy approved firing the 17-member Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and in September he fired former CDC Director Susan Monares.
Monares claims he was fired after refusing to approve Kennedy’s vaccine policy without first checking it against existing scientific evidence.
The surgeon general said Kennedy’s replacements for laid-off federal employees lack “basic qualifications” and some are even “vaccine conspiracy theorists.”
“The new committee has already begun to have reservations about the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, despite decades of data demonstrating its effectiveness and strong safety profile,” it reads.
Trump said during the presidential campaign that he would let Kennedy “flood” federal health agencies, and that appears to be exactly what is happening.
Kennedy oversees federal agencies that collectively have access to $2 trillion in funding and have the potential to impact all Americans and the broader world.
Medicare and Medicaid, the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies are all under Kennedy’s control.
“It’s worth reminding ourselves of what Kennedy put at stake: The FDA approves life-saving drugs and holds pharmaceutical companies to high standards of safety and effectiveness. The NIH pursues and funds cutting-edge research. The CDC leads on emergencies from infectious diseases to opioids to natural disasters,” the letter said.
It goes on to point out that DHHS addresses mental health and substance abuse challenges, addresses primary care shortages, and provides health insurance coverage to millions of Americans who are elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to afford insurance.
“Mismanaging HHS puts America’s health at risk, undermines our national security, and undermines our economic resilience and international credibility,” the letter says.
The letter said that although the United States this year experienced the worst measles outbreak in more than 30 years, President Kennedy suggested Americans take vitamins to fight the disease rather than recommend vaccines.
“The result: a months-long outbreak, three preventable deaths, and the first measles-related child death in the United States in 20 years,” the letter says.
The Surgeon General is not the only expert sounding the alarm loudly to warn the public of the danger Kennedy poses to all Americans.
The letter says the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and other leading health organizations have come together to urge Americans to ignore DHHS guidance on prenatal Tylenol use.
On Monday, two psychiatric groups, the Southern California Psychiatry Society and the Grassroots Committee for Public Mental Health Protection, filed a petition calling for Kennedy to be replaced as head of DHHS. issued a statement. NPR reports.
“As physicians committed to evidence-based care, we are appalled by the directives from HHS, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” the committee said in a statement.
DHHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard responded to the psychiatrists’ statement by saying, “Secretary Kennedy is committed to delivering on President Trump’s promise to make America healthy again by dismantling the failed status quo, restoring public trust in our health care institutions, and ensuring the transparency, accountability, and decision-making power that Americans voted for. “We are firmly committed,” he said.
Kennedy has not yet responded to the surgeon general’s letter. independence Comments were requested.
“Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his own opinion,” the surgeon general wrote. “But he doesn’t deserve to put people’s health at risk.”
