Public Health and Safety 

As a doctor, I have to stand up and be counted on these incredibly serious threats that are coming, not from outside our nation, but from within our own administration.​ I't hard to understand the motivation. 

 

​The present state of the Department of Health and Human Services is a disgrace. Under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a man who has absolutely NO medical or scientific credentials, critical funding has been cut to entities that safeguard our public safety and the health of our children and the entire community. Much of what is being done is based not on science, but on a toxic brew of ideology and disinformation, much of it intentional. It's hard to believe that this is happening in our America.

A well-known anti-vaccine advocate, RFK has slashed or eliminated critical vaccination initiatives and is actively attempting to dismantle vaccine requirements for children and pregnant women. And he just replaced the entire 17-person CDC Advisory panel that safeguards the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in this country. Replacing them with a panel of non-scientist "influencers" and fringe conspiracy theorists.

 

Measles is not a harmless disease of childhood, it can be fatal or cause irreparable brain damage, especially in babies. There is also nothing benign about polio, diphtheria, tetanus, meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia, mumps (in boys and men), or German measles (in pregnancy). We protect the population from these horrible diseases for a reason. If someone tells you that "I had "X" and I did fine", they are either (a) lying, or (b) lucky. 

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The "Make America Healthy Again" report published on May 29th is rife with misinformation masquerading as "science". Seven of the citations in the paper do not actually exist, and many of the studies quoted were misinterpreted to give the false impression that vaccines are unproven and dangerous. THIS IS FAKE SCIENCE and perilous to the health of the public. 

 

"Make America Sick Again" seems a more appropriate motto.  

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Mass layoffs across the Department of Health and Human Services were made on April 1st, aiming to slash around 10,000-20,000 full-time jobs from the federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, OSHA and many more.  ​

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These funding cuts eliminate or cripple:

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• Critical medical research, including development and testing of promising anti-infection and anti-cancer treatments.   

• Prevention and treatment of HIV and other dangerous communicable diseases.

• Injury prevention in the workplace. Allowing employers to expose their workers to unsafe conditions without care or consequences. 

• Programs that monitor and oversee the health of the 9-11 responders.

• Oversight over the approval of new drugs and vaccines, ensuring the quality and safety of medications and medical devices.

• The infrastructure that oversees and regulates child support. 

• The list goes on. And on.​​

 

The excuse that has been used is to "eliminate waste" and "increase efficiency". Is this really the agenda? Not on your life! And I do mean YOUR LIFE! ​

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OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES SEEM TO BE JUST FINE WITH ALL OF THIS. THEY ARE NOT ONLY COMPLACENT, BUT COMPLICIT - WE DESERVE BETTER!​

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If I am elected, one of my priorities will be to work to fix the public health system that keeps us all safe while actually reducing waste and unnecessary red tape.