The news, when it was reported Wednesday afternoon by the New York Times, was just the latest in a series of blows to America’s public health, but it has the potential to be among the most serious: A so-called “fringe epidemiologist” will soon be serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control. As head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has done lasting damage by helping to gut millions of dollars in vital biomedical research; he will continue to serve in that role while simultaneously heading the CDC.
The appointment, which is expected to be announced soon by the White House and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., places the CDC in the hands of someone — albeit on a temporary basis, as the post now requires Senate approval — who helped lead the charge against lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Bhattacharya argued that the virus should be allowed to spread in healthy young people until herd immunity was reached.
The news capped a year in which Kennedy has wrecked the nation’s public health, along with its premier medical science institutions, by firing or pushing out veteran researchers, scientists and physicians; stacking agencies with hand-picked vaccine skeptics; failing to prevent and treat a rapidly growing measles outbreak; and promoting quack theories about disease prevention.
Kennedy was sworn in as HHS secretary on Feb. 13, 2025, following a 52-48 Senate vote in favor of his confirmation. His hearings were contentious and arduous, with Democrats giving speeches late into the night that urged their GOP colleagues to oppose his nomination. They were unsuccessful. In the end, only one Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor, voted against Kennedy. “In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” McConnell said. “I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.”
The former Senate majority leader’s words sounded like common sense to most Americans, who knew the truth about vaccines and were deeply concerned about Kennedy’s nomination to head HHS. It was bad enough that the man wasn’t a doctor, but he was also a known conspiracy theorist and gadfly given the spot in a quid pro quo from Donald Trump, who needed his anti-vaccine credibility for his presidential campaign. (One of Trump’s few weaknesses in the GOP base was his desire to take credit for the only truly positive policy he ever oversaw: the development of the Covid vaccines, which many conservatives — along with some crunchy leftists — had come to see as deadly rather than life-saving.)
Kennedy’s brief run for president, first as a Democrat and then as an Independent, had flamed out, and he was pretty much selling his endorsement to the highest bidder when Trump came calling. The Kamala Harris campaign reportedly passed, refusing to promise such a crank anything in the event of a Democratic win. Kennedy went with Trump, rejecting his family’s legacy, which had become rooted in the very DNA of the Democratic Party. Trump promised Kennedy that he would be allowed to “go wild” on health and medical science, but that energy policy was off limits. (Advocating against fossil fuel production and expansion had previously been the cornerstone of Kennedy’s work.) He was happy to comply.
Both Kennedy and Trump are famous eccentrics who possess a charismatic weirdness that somehow captures people’s imaginations — and inspires them to become devoted followers. In their own ways, each is a cult leader.
In retrospect, it is entirely predictable the two would end up together. Both Kennedy and Trump are famous eccentrics who possess a charismatic weirdness that somehow captures people’s imaginations — and inspires them to become devoted followers. In their own ways, each is a cult leader. Accompanied by that natural impulse and the president’s blessing, Kennedy has indeed gone wild in office.
The first year of his tenure has seen the federal government’s medical science institutions undergo the most radical changes since their inception. Kennedy has essentially turned the CDC, NIH, Food and Drug Administration, and all the other agencies falling under his purview into pseudo-scientific wellness laboratories. With a few more years, they could collectively end up being the world’s most expensive holistic health facility.
Not all of his policies have been bad. Encouraging people to eschew processed food in favor of the real thing and get plenty of exercise is a worthy priority, although it’s the kind of issue usually taken up by first ladies rather than the HHS Secretary. In fact, it was Michelle Obama’s mission, and it earned her widespread outrage and vilification on the right for interfering in America’s god-given right to eat junk food. Still, it would be hard to object to anyone pursuing initiatives to get unnatural additives out of the food supply or trying to ensure that the country is eating well. But that’s the least of what Kennedy is doing.
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The centerpiece of the secretary’s Make America Healthy Again agenda is his war on vaccines, something he promised during his confirmation hearings he would not pursue. In a year’s time, Kennedy has replaced medical experts with vaccine skeptics and is withdrawing the CDC and FDA vaccine recommendations for both children and adults. HHS stopped supporting mRNA research, which looked to be a game-changer in public health. The move resulted in Moderna pulling back from stage three trials for vaccines targeting multiple sclerosis and other diseases after the FDA rejected the company’s flu vaccine for dubious reasons. (After significant backlash, the decision was reportedly reversed.)
Such policies will inevitably lead to sickness and deaths. In fact, they already have; the U.S. is experiencing a measles outbreak that will likely result in the nation losing its status as having eradicated the disease.
While people suffer due to his policies, Kennedy has been posting shirtless workout videos — most recently with Kid Rock — and appearing on right-wing podcasts announcing that he isn’t afraid of germs because he used to snort cocaine off toilet seats. (He has long been a germ theory skeptic.) The secretary also recently declared that the ketogenic diet can cure schizophrenia, a fringe idea that has been rejected by every expert in the field.
In response to such policies, many states are stepping up to fill some of the gaps. As Salon’s Nicole Karlis reported, California has launched its own initiative. This includes the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange, which seeks to build a national coalition under the leadership of former CDC officials. Similarly, California, Oregon and Washington state have created the West Coast Health Alliance to combat misinformation coming from the CDC, and seven states in the Northeast have come together to make medically-sound vaccine recommendations. Individual governors and state legislatures are also scrambling to fill the void and create coalitions that can mobilize quickly in case of another public health emergency like the pandemic. Beyond these efforts, we can only wait for the day that funding for medical research will be restored by a Democratic administration.
In the meantime, Europe, Canada and China are moving into realms of medical science the U.S. once commanded. While they pursue cutting-edge advances in medicine and technology, America will likely be running a massive internet conspiracy theory/wellness experiment testing Kennedy’s rejection of germ theory, which will include the use of Ivermectin and cod liver oil for whatever ails you. And don’t be surprised if they decide to bring back blood-letting and leeches. They seem to believe that the medical advances of the 19th and 20th centuries were worthless.
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