John,
This morning at the Bloomberg American Health Summit experts from across the U.S. considered the future for public health at a time of political uncertainty.
In his remarks to open the Summit, Mike focused on what may be the most deadly and economically destructive health risk caused by political division: the weakening of support for vaccines.
"Over the past half-century, vaccines have saved the lives of millions of Americans -- especially children. Making it harder to get vaccines would be one of the most catastrophic mistakes in American history -- a travesty beyond measure."
In his speech, Mike expressed hope "that Senate Republicans will convince President-elect Trump to re-think the nomination of Robert Kennedy, Jr." to lead the nation's Health and Human Services Department. In the wake of a global pandemic, America should appoint "government leaders who are capable of preparing and responding effectively -- including by supporting the development of new vaccines," said Mike. "Putting Kennedy in charge of that work would be beyond dangerous. It would be medical malpractice on a mass scale."
Nor is Kennedy just a threat to the widespread support for vaccines. He could put progress on hold for a range of life-saving innovations: "If the federal government starts re-allocating science funding to nutty conspiracy theories, how many years will that set back a cure for cancer? And Leukemia? And ALS? And Alzheimer's? And Parkinson's? And every other disease that needs more funding."
President-elect Trump and Senate Republicans should choose a leader for the nation's health agencies who respects and values the life-saving power of vaccines, and who will encourage the science and research that make America the world's leader in medical innovations.
Watch Mike's remarks here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3tlgwBkG0U
Thanks,
MikeBloomberg.com
