Doctors worried RFK Jr. will tout vaccine-skeptic views after he is picked for HHS secretary

abcnews.go.com

Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as head of the Department of Health and Human Services has reignited concerns over his vaccine-skeptic views.

Kennedy, who has previously promoted debunked claims linking vaccines to autism and criticized COVID-19 vaccines, is seen by experts as a “vaccine cynic” undermining trust in vaccine safety.

Health officials worry his leadership could worsen declining vaccination rates, already linked to rising measles and whooping cough cases.

Experts fear Kennedy’s influence may lead to unqualified leadership appointments at health agencies and deepen vaccine hesitancy among parents.

9 comments

- Unfortunately the dumb usually survive, and the vulnerable die.
  
  This is the hard truth. Folks like RFK Jr can afford to isolate and live comfortably. People in the service sector, people with landlords aggressively hiking rents, people with student and medical and cost-of-living debts, people with aging relatives and young kids to support - they don't have a choice. They show up to work, suffer the risks of exposure, and carry it back home to vulnerable family members.
- No, we need herd immunity
  
  It's too late for herd immunity, the general population forgot how it was before vaccines and it is just triage at this point.
- I’d be fine with that, but those degenerates have kids that they won’t vaccinate. That sucks for everyone.
Doctors and nurses worried they will have to grow a spine and do things the ways their forbears did in order to help their patients. Precious few of mine, or my wife and kids' doctors, have been interested in doing any more than the bare minimum they could, both to stay out of trouble, and moreso to keep from getting in trouble(mostly, having to expend any effort to ensure insurance paid them).
It sucks that last bit goes with the job description, but this "the system mostly works"-state we've been in for decades was both a fluke and a lie, where healthcare is concerned .
- Medical providers job is to make money so that's what they will always do and the policy is written in such way that they have to.
  Blind faith in them is misplaced. Treat them like any other merchant.
  
  Scant few providers I have met view the job like that. What you are describing is what MBAs in healthcare THINK is the sole reason for providers existing.
Hey now, America just had an election to decide whether vaccines work and they decided that they don't. Respect democracy!

9 comments