Additional furor over the CDC.
This time it’s personal.
The CDC director was asked to step down after refusing to support the administration’s agenda. Newly confirmed Susan Monarez refused. So they fired her for refusing to toe their line of bullshit and refusing to listen to RFK Jr.’s nonsense.
Basically they fired her for choosing public health over politics.
Good for her.
Also good for the wave of resignations that followed of an additional four high level department heads including the head of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious diseases. The others who resigned in protest were the deputy director and the heads of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and the head of the office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology. Like that’s not going to shoot us in the foot. Or, rather, in the public health.
For those who are not aware of what public health is, the definition that the American Public Health Association goes by is that “Public health promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities.” The association goes further to explain that their solutions are science-based, and evidence-backed that strives to give everyone a safe environment to live, work and play in.
For those who are not aware what science-based means broadly that there has been use of “rigorous, systematic, and objective methodologies to obtain reliable and valid knowledge.” This definition is by the American Education Research Association and is used as a framework to members of Congress. As someone who has spent the last three years learning how to do research I can assure it is not “vibes” only.
For those who are not aware what evidence backed means it is another way to phrase evidence-based. This means that the information used to back up the care or the data as been found through credible, reliable science. It is important to understand that there is a hierarchy of evidence that is used to rank research. The strongest is systematic reviews. This is a systematic investigation of the meta- analyses of research. There are nine steps to the pyramid of hierarchy of evidence pyramid with the last, lowest step being expert opinion. There are many hierarchy of evidence lists from the NIH, from the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination’s Level of Evidence, and many other. Not one of the progenitors say “vibes” only.
Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was understandably concerned with this development. He said, “Politicians don’t do science well. It is dangerous to put politics over public health.”
It is my opinion that is also costly to put politics over public health. Not just in lives of the people that will die but also fiscally. It is expensive to care for those who are caught up in the web of deceit that now descends on the agency.
Unless of course you don’t care about scientific inquiry and base your entire secretary-ship on the lies you tell yourself. And other people. That is cold comfort to those who have to bury the dead from the misinformation.
Don’t forget that over 80 people died when RFK Jr’s lies led them not to trust the Mumps, Measles, Rubella vaccination. They decided that he knew what he was talking about and didn’t vaccinate and a cluster soon followed. A deadly choice on their part. This information is in part from Senator Brian Schatz (D, HI) at the circus of confirmation of RFK.
This information is also widely known and you’d think it would be enough to sink his ego.
But that’s not a bad enough vibe for these people.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 