Overview

• In a joint Washington Post op-ed, Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, Joycelyn Elders, Vivek Murthy, Antonia Novello and David Satcher say Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policies pose a profound and immediate threat to public health.
• The former surgeons general cite plummeting morale, departures of scientists and career staff, and the elevation of ideology over evidence across federal health agencies.
• They point to concrete moves including firing all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, narrowing COVID vaccine eligibility, and promoting debunked claims about vaccines and acetaminophen use in pregnancy.
• The op-ed links de-emphasized vaccination to the year’s worst measles outbreak in decades, describing months of transmission and preventable deaths as consequences of redirected priorities.
• Two psychiatry groups have called for Kennedy’s removal over harms to mental health and addiction care, while HHS defends his Make America Healthy Again agenda and President Trump continues to back him.