Newsroom | Defend Public Health

RFK Jr's Whopper of the Week

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.’s War on Public Health Is Framed as “Restoring Trust”

For National Public Health Week, we look at Secretary Kennedy’s claims to be “restoring trust” in public health. Unfortunately, he is doing the opposite and weakening America’s scientific, medical, and public health systems. Under his watch, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has terminated at least 75 scientific advisory committees and elevated the voices of unqualified, conspiratorial, and conflicted individuals. Kennedy is destroying technical knowledge and expertise at HHS and using "public trust" as his excuse for doing so.

Prism

Under RFK Jr.’s leadership, ‘MAHA’ obliterates public health

In this review of the continuous peddling of disinformation and junk science by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. and the people he's placed in key federal health policy positions, DPH member Jessica Malaty Rivera calls out the "word salad" and "doublespeak" Kennedy uses to mislead the public and evade congressional oversight.

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Defend Public Health Launches “People’s Health Platform” to Combat Political Interference

In response to what they describe as a period of “malice, neglect and ignorance” within federal health agencies, a grassroots coalition has launched a strategic effort to force candidates to take explicit stands on health policy. The organization, Defend Public Health, recently introduced the “People’s Health Platform,” a set of guiding principles designed to move healthcare access and pandemic preparedness from the margins of campaign literature to the forefront of the national conversation.

Public health takes center stage in US midterm campaigns: ‘It’s already been politicized’

As DPH launches the People's Health Platform, Coordinating Committee member Elizabeth Jacobs tells The Guardian, “It doesn’t matter where you are or what party you belong to. What matters is the health of everybody around us... Voters have the right to know which candidates are going to protect their health and which won’t.”

defend public health

Defend Public Health Releases People’s Health Platform

In a dramatic move to reframe the debate on public health and make health a key issue in this year’s midterm elections, Defend Public Health today released its People’s Health Platform. The group’s advocacy teams now working in 15 states – some red, some blue, some purple – will call on candidates of all parties to endorse the platform.

US health officials appear to shy away from anti-vaccine talk ahead of midterms

U.S. health officials appear to be shying away from voicing negative views of vaccines in public as November’s midterm elections loom and key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liability. But DPH Coordinating Committee member Elizabeth Jacobs and other experts warn readers to be wary, with Jacobs reminding that in the past year, Kennedy and his allies "just broke everything.”

RFK Jr's Whopper of the Week

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Waffles on Glyphosates to Cover Policy Weakness

When Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to encourage the domestic production of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate, Kennedy’s MAHA supporters were angry. Kennedy has waffled in his messaging about glyphosates and whether they should be regulated. Glyphosates are a rare example where the Trump administration has blocked Kennedy from pursuing MAHA goals.

The Washington Post

Four truths about COVID that have become clouded over time

While officials made some mistakes during the early days of COVID-19, many of the reasons for precautions and the serious dangers the virus posed have been forgotten. DPH member Jessica Malaty Rivera lends her perspective to this detailed analysis.

common dreams

Attacks on Transgender Americans Are Attacks on Health Care

DPH Coordinating Committee member Bruce Mirken writes, "This is not difficult: Gender-affirming care is health care, period, and decisions about that care belong to patients and their health care providers (and families in the case of minors), not politicians on an ideological crusade."

RFK may replace entire panel of CDC vaccine advisors again, ally lets slip

A member of an influential federal vaccine advisory panel made a dramatic claim Thursday afternoon that the panel had been disbanded following a temporary block by a federal judge and would be entirely reconstituted—again. But, just hours later, he retracted the claim, saying that it was merely a possibility -- and DPH points out that whatever HHS does, they need to follow the law.

Confusion abounds over future of US vaccine advisory committee

Utter chaos unfolded March 19 as officials sent conflicting signals over whether or not the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was being shut down (apparently not, at last report). DPH Coordinating Committee member Bruce Mirken tells The Guardian, "Congress needs to impeach Kennedy now and put a stop to this grotesque circus.”

IFL Science

RFK Jr.'s Child Vaccine Policy Changes And Anti-Vaccine Advisory Panel Blocked By Federal Judge

IFL Science covers the recent injunction by Federal courts against RFK Jr's changes to vaccine policies and the Advisory Committee on Immunization (ACIP). Defend Public Health Coordinating Committee Member Beth Jacobs and other health experts speak about the immediate impacts and the ongoing battles needed to safeguard public health against the Trump Administration's overhaul of health agencies.