The CDC After Trump's & RFKJr's Friday Afternoon Massacre

There is a must-read NY Times op-ed in today's paper:

• The signers are 9 former CDC directors (permanent or acting). 
• They served during every Republican and Democrat administration from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump.
• Their service as CDC directors goes back to 1977 -- collectively that represents over 100 years at the CDC.
• Despite their differences, they agree (as their title puts it) that "Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health".

I hope the link works (it's supposed to be a free "share" that I get as a subscriber), but if not, here are a few highlights:

• What the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months — culminating in his decision to fire Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director days ago — is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced.
• Mr. Kennedy has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more. 
• Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines. 
• He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill prepared for future health emergencies. 
• He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views. 
• He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements. 
• And he championed federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage. 
• Firing Dr. Monarez — which led to the resignations of top C.D.C. officials — adds considerable fuel to this raging fire.
• When Mr. Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr. Monarez on July 31, he called her “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.” But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable.
• These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a C.D.C. director. Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary’s demands, and we applaud Dr. Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.

The entire op-ed is worth reading and sharing with friends, family, and colleagues. We live in dangerous times. But if Kennedy's moves as HHS Secretary go unchecked, they're going to get a lot more so.