Vaccines are one of the greatest achievements of biomedical science and public health, preventing enormous suffering and premature death. Decades of strategic vaccination campaigns virtually eliminated diseases previously common in the United States, including diphtheria, tetanus, polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, and rubella.
Public health leaders have long warned that Kennedy, with the imprimatur of President Trump himself, intends to reverse decades of progress and instead spread disinformation that will lead to injury and death. As measles and other preventable diseases spread in other states, Massachusetts can mitigate the damage by strengthening state vaccine policy. Proposals to remove nonmedical exemptions from school vaccination requirements that are pending before the Legislature offer a critical guardrail. We must take every action to protect the health of Massachusetts residents.
Oami Amarasingham
Deputy director
Carlene Pavlos
Executive director
Massachusetts Public Health Alliance
Boston
I read about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest outrage last week (“RFK Jr. fires vaccine panel advising CDC”). I guess it wasn’t enough that he terminated the government’s contract with Moderna to produce a vaccine to protect the public from the real and looming threat of the bird flu virus, which experts fear could exceed COVID-19’s destructive force.
Congress must move to impeach Kennedy and remove him from his position. As the Globe’s STAT News article reported, “Kennedy’s move appears to fly in the face of commitments he made to” Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate’s health committee, “when being confirmed to lead” the Department of Health and Human Services.
I realize the Trump administration is a five-alarm fire of malicious actions designed to destroy our most important governmental and social institutions, so it is head-spinningly difficult to respond to each new threat in a timely and effective manner. But this is truly a national, indeed international, emergency in the making.
Jim Fathy
Newton
So much for the assurances of the nomination process
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s. firing of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is the latest example of the futility of the congressional nomination process.
When he was being considered for the Cabinet position, Kennedy was reported to have given Bill Cassidy, Republican chair of the Senate health committee, assurances that he would not interfere with the operation of the existing ACIP, in order to secure the senator’s vote to advance his nomination.
Now, more than ever, we know that confirmation hearings mean nothing in providing insight into how a nominee will manage. They are only good for showing us how they have misrepresented themselves.
We’re only about five months into this new administration, and it’s done little more than sow mistrust in government agencies, making the American people less safe, secure, and healthy.
Carl Markey
North Chelmsford
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