When senators were considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, they were told not to worry too much about his radicalism. Sure, RFK Jr. had a record of promoting bizarre and unscientific ideas, but once in office, the argument went, his ambitions would be limited.
The pitch worked. Just three weeks into Donald Trump’s second term, the GOP-led Senate confirmed Kennedy. In all, 52 Republicans — including alleged “moderates” such as Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski — put an unqualified conspiracy theorist in charge of the federal department that oversees the nation’s health policies.
In the weeks and months that followed, Kennedy did exactly what his critics said he’d do, gutting key parts of the nation’s public health infrastructure, while targeting vaccines and public access to them. As NBC News reported, those efforts are ongoing.
The Trump administration is terminating 22 contracts focused on developing mRNA vaccines and winding down additional federal investments in mRNA technology, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday. Many scientists and infectious disease experts swiftly denounced the move as a broadside on an area of research seen as particularly promising after its use in rapidly developing Covid vaccines.
NBC News’ report went on to note that the targeted projects were funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), an HHS program that works with the pharmaceutical industry to develop vaccines and other countermeasures for public health emergencies.
“This isn’t just about vaccines,” said Rick Bright, who directed BARDA from 2016 to 2020. “It’s about whether we’ll be ready when the next crisis hits. Cutting mRNA development now puts every American at greater risk.”
“The Covid pandemic showed us what’s possible when science moves fast,” he added. “Dismantling that momentum now is like disbanding the fire department because the fire’s out.”
Bright is hardly the only one with concerns. Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, told The Associated Press, “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, told The New York Times, “Had we not used these lifesaving mRNA vaccines to protect against severe illness, we would have had millions of [additional] Covid deaths.”
A related Times report published in May added, “To scientists who study it, mRNA is a miracle molecule. The vaccines that harnessed it against Covid saved an estimated 20 million lives, a rapid development that was recognized with a Nobel Prize. Clinical trials show mRNA-based vaccines increasing survival in patients with pancreatic and other deadly cancers. Biotechnology companies are investing in the promise of mRNA therapies to treat and even cure a host of genetic and chronic diseases, including Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.”
Indeed, let’s not forget that none other than Donald Trump himself used to celebrate mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines — he explicitly referred to them as a “modern-day miracle” — but that was before. Now, the president has put the nation’s public health infrastructure in the hands of a guy who’s claimed, among other things, that Wi-Fi causes “leaky brain,” and he’s decided he doesn’t like this game-changing scientific research. The consequences for medicine, science and Americans’ lives are likely to be significant. But as unsettling as these developments are, none of what’s transpired at HHS in recent months is surprising. Kennedy’s anti-science reputation was well established long before Trump nominated him. That an unqualified, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist is behaving like an unqualified, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist was painfully predictable. The fact remains, however, that 52 Senate Republicans were given an opportunity to protect Americans from Kennedy — and they failed spectacularly. The more steps that Kennedy takes to put people at risk, the more GOP senators bear responsibility for his radical and dangerous decisions. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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