RFK Jr. fired veterinarians working on bird flu because he’s incompetent
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s purge of almost a quarter of the federal workforce under his control includes senior veterinarians who focus on response to bird flu outbreaks, according to sources that spoke with the Washington Post.
The laid-off veterinarians, who worked under the Food and Drug Administration, included those who designed studies showing that pasteurized milk would kill the virus. This was particularly important as the bird flu rampaged through dairy herds last spring. Officials who oversaw efforts to protect Americans by recalling pet food that may have been contaminated by the avian disease also lost their jobs.
Making matters worse, some of the fired staffers are reportedly the government officials responsible for communicating these types of findings to the public.
Kennedy, who has advocated for raw milk over pasteurized milk, contrary to good public health policy in this case, isn’t exactly known for his support of science.
“This is one of the dumbest things you could possibly do with your government, laying off the very people you need to combat one of the biggest problems affecting our food supply right now,” Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, told the Post.
The news comes more than a month after the Department of Agriculture promised to rehire “several” employees they had “accidentally” let go, who had been involved in the avian flu outbreak response.
“Word has to get to people,” one staffer told the Washington Post. “If things happen behind the walls of government, and we’re not sharing it with the public then all the work that we do is not getting out so that people can take the steps they need to to protect themselves.”
Democrats in the House have launched a subcommittee to investigate Kennedy’s weak response to the bird flu outbreak, which has sent egg costs skyrocketing, threatening public health and impacting the farming industry.
Kennedy’s first months as head of the HHS have been disastrous. His poor management of a historic measles outbreak, which began in Texas and quickly spread to New Mexico, has claimed a child’s life. New cases have now appeared in Kansas.
At the same time he is firing thousands of qualified staff, Kennedy has found time to hire a discredited anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading false information about vaccines and autism treatments. Kennedy’s decision has raised concerns among health experts and further fueled misinformation about vaccine safety.
Additionally, Kennedy’s stance against fluoride in water has had real-world consequences. More and more communities have been encouraged to remove fluoride from their water supply, increasing the risk of childhood tooth decay and disease.
Kennedy’s qualifications made him uniquely unfit to lead our country’s public health into the modern age, and each day he continues to prove it.