Serious Duties Demand Serious Leadership

Throughout most of human history, infectious diseases were a scourge that created fear and panic in communities. We understood little about their causes, nothing about their effective treatment, and vaccines didn’t exist.
Among the most feared was smallpox. It killed three out of every 10 people infected. Those who survived were often left with deep, disfiguring facial scars.
A breakthrough that would begin the revolution of vaccinations and preventative medicine has its roots in the observations and tests of English doctor Edward Jenner in 1796. He noticed that milkmaids who were infected with cowpox, a relatively mild disease in humans, were protected from smallpox.
His experiments with infecting people with material from cowpox sores proved to be an effective “vaccine.” He would publish his findings “On the Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation” in 1798. The first smallpox vaccines were introduced in the U.S. in 1800. In 1980, the World Health Organization announced that smallpox had been eradicated in the world. However, it has been estimated that just between 1900 and 1980, 300 million people died worldwide from smallpox despite the availability of the vaccine.
Deaths and disability from measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio were eliminated or greatly reduced.
Measles was first recorded in what were then the British colonies in North America in 1657. It was an airborne virus extremely efficient at infecting others. While most survived the disease, some developed swelling of the brain that left them deaf, or with intellectual disabilities, and others died.
Research didn’t isolate the virus until 1954, with the first vaccine approved in 1963 – more than 300 years after the first cases were identified.
America’s first recorded polio epidemic struck in 1894. It was a virus that attacked the spinal cord, leaving thousands paralyzed while killing others.
Research into a vaccine for the polio virus began in the 1930s with early failures and setbacks. It wasn’t until 1953 that Jonas Salk, building on the work of others, came up with his vaccine.
Now medical diagnostic technology has sped the identification of the causes of disease, development of vaccines and treatments.
Despite incredible advancements in disease research, the world was not prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic that raced across the globe starting in late 2019. But our advanced scientific research capabilities led to the rapid development of a vaccine in just nine months. The cause of COVID-19, the SARS-C0-V-2 virus, is from a family of coronaviruses that has been studied for more than a decade.
Electron microscopes that see the genetic details of viruses and supercomputers that can help research vaccines have been game changers in vaccine research and development.
Also, the development of the mRNA vaccine technology allowed for rapid deployment of vaccines. Past vaccines were developed in chicken eggs or large vats with a piece of the virus. It was a very slow process.
By using messenger RNA, a vaccine uses a piece of the genetic code of the virus that teaches our own cells to create an immune response, according to the CDC.
Despite this incredible history of success and scientific discovery in the development of vaccines, there are still many who don’t trust vaccines, refusing to get vaccinated. Despite their proven safety, they refuse to have their children vaccinated.
Now, we are faced with possibly having a secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whose tenure could have deep adverse impacts on the future health of Americans. President-elected Donald Trump has nominated vaccine skeptic and, at times, an anti-science proponent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“There are many reasons to strenuously oppose President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. But this one matters most: his willful disregard for the scientific process,” Dr. Leana S. Wen writes.
She is an emergency room physician, teaches at George Washington University, and is the author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”
“The reason Kennedy is uniquely unfit compared with past nominees is that his approach to scientific inquiry is as an activist, not a scientist,” Wen says.
“The clearest example of this is his repeated assertions that childhood immunizations are harmful,” Wen writes. “Kennedy is one of the most prominent promoters of disinformation that vaccines cause autism, despite dozens of rigorously conducted medical studies that have debunked the claim.” He has suggested that vaccines might kill more people than they save, she says.
Remember, Kennedy is not a doctor. He is not a medical researcher. He has no background in public health. If approved by the Senate as HHS secretary, he will oversee the nation’s health agenda. He would be the boss at the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
 We aren’t talking about an agency that will debate government regulation of business permitting. We are talking about one that will have an impact on your child’s health and safety, as well as that of our communities.
“Kennedy’s baseless claims have included that Wi-Fi causes cancer and ‘leaky brain’; that school shootings are attributable to antidepressants; (and) that chemicals in water can lead to children becoming transgender,” National Public Radio reports.
“The science on vaccine safety particularly has huge deficits, and we’re going to make sure those scientific studies are done, and that people can make informed choices about their vaccinations and their children’s vaccinations,” he said. Remember, again, he has no medical background or expertise.
He will create a heavier burden for Horizon Public Health’s efforts to educate the public about the importance of childhood vaccinations as well as those for adults.
Now the H5N1 avian flu virus is spreading to humans from cattle. A Canadian teen has been hospitalized with the virus and was reported in critical condition. What if it begins to easily spread by human contact? What if it proves especially deadly? How will Kennedy address it?
We need serious and experienced leadership at HHS.