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Mass CDC Firings, Confusion Will Cost Lives; Congress Must Act

Mass firings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, happening with no transparency and creating much confusion over the weekend, threaten the health of everyone in the U.S. and will lead to needless, preventable deaths, public health experts with Defend Public Health said today, urging Congress to act immediately.

Evidenced-based Care for All: Addressing Myths about Gender Affirming Health Care

This year the Department of Health and Human Services released a report titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices” which claimed to “summarize, synthesize, and critically evaluate the existing literature on best practices for promoting the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents with distress related to their sex or to social expectations associated with their sex.” In reality, the HHS report spread dangerous and inaccurate information about gender dysphoria and gender affirming healthcare. This post, in partnership with The Coalition for Health Resilience, corrects the record

RFK Jr's Whopper of the Week

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. is Dead Wrong Babies Won't Get Hepatitis B

RFK Jr does not want the CDC to recommend newborns be vaccinated against the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV infection early in life, especially as a baby, puts a person at a high risk of developing a chronic lifelong liver infection, which in a quarter of cases can lead to fatal liver failure or cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine for newborns is safe and effective; and it gives durable lifelong protection against a serious infection that children can encounter during birth, and throughout their lifetime in their families and communities.

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Why Public Health Keeps Failing—and How to Fix It

DPH member Perry Halkitis reminds readers that important as science is, by itself science isn't enough, writing, "What would a more human public health look like? It would be one that recognizes that people act not only on what they know, but on what they feel. People must feel heard, not lectured, with interventions grounded in science and lived experience."

Trans Pride Flag

We Must Stand with Our Trans Neighbors

Most of us have some hobby or favorite activity we do to keep ourselves sane amid the pressures of daily living and the increasing political madness that is the USA. For me, it’s performing in community theater, and that’s where I met Perry (a pseudonym). At 17, Perry was the youngest transgender person I’d ever known. Today, he and every trans person in the U.S. is in danger.

48hills

RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine madness will make America sick again

DPH Coordinating Committee member Bruce Mirken writes, "Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. keeps promising to 'make America healthy again,' but his summer-long anti-vaccine rampage made clear that his actual impact will be to make America sicker. A lot sicker. And, in too many cases, dead."

The Cruelty Is the Point: Pediatric Cancer trials eliminated

This week, Trump announced funding for AI-driven pediatric cancer research. But don't be fooled. He's already cancelled longstanding research efforts into pediatric cancers, leaving kids and their families in limbo. Mary Canales, PhD, RN, shares her thoughts on this cruelty.

RFK Jr's Whopper of the Week

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Blames Tylenol Taken in Pregnancy for Autism

Acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol, is widely regarded as safe to take during pregnancy. Numerous well-designed studies have repeatedly demonstrated the safety of acetaminophen use during pregnancy. But Secretary Kennedy is falsely claiming that acetaminophen may contribute to increasing rates of autism. He plans for the FDA to issue a black-box warning for acetaminophen use in pregnancy. That won't reduce autism incidence but would leave pregnant people with no safe treatment for fever which itself can be harmful to the fetus.

MAHA is bad for America's health

Citing example after example of RFK Jr. policies guaranteed to make America sick again, DPH members Donna Gaffney and Teri Mills write, "The 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) agenda isn’t just unserious. It’s unsafe."

The Misdirection Magicians

DPH Member Elizabeth Jacobs shares some thoughts about misdirection and misinformation regarding
acetaminophen by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and friends.

Vaccines Haven’t Been Tested? Let’s Clear That Up.

In a partnership with the Coalition for Health Resilience, Defend Public Health shares the facts about how vaccines are tested.

The nation

Trump and RFK Are Presiding Over a Massacre of the Innocents

DPH Coordinating Committee Member Gregg Gonsalves discusses how recent moves from RFK Jr and the Trump Administration will exacerbate an existing crisis in US infant mortality.