Because the Trump administration fails to mitigate the measles outbreak, public well being officers are selecting to resign.
Thomas Corry, the highest Well being and Human Companies spokesperson, abruptly resigned on Monday in response to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lackluster response to the outbreak.
“I want to announce to my friends and colleagues that last Friday, I announced my resignation effective immediately. To my colleagues at HHS, I wish you the best and great success,” Corry, who held the place for lower than a month, wrote on LinkedIn.
His announcement got here simply two weeks after he expressed gratitude to “be part of the team that is going to work to make America healthy again and to make healthcare more affordable and accessible” in one other LinkedIn put up.
From 2019 to 2020, Corry served in Trump’s first administration as senior adviser and communications director on the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies.
In accordance with Politico, Corry had “grown uneasy” with RFK Jr.’s failure to reply to the measles outbreak that had knowingly contaminated 150 individuals and killed one baby in Texas.
Cartoon by Tim Campbell
“Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,” he wrote.
RFK Jr. additionally referred to as the outbreak “not unusual” in the course of the first cupboard assembly, though it has led to the primary measles dying in a decade.
The measles outbreak was partly as a result of residents within the Texas neighborhood not vaccinating their youngsters after falling prey to right-wing vaccine misinformation. Essentially the most measles circumstances have been confirmed in Gaines County, which is likely one of the least vaccinated counties in Texas.
Kaiser Household Basis knowledge reveals that anti-vaccine sentiment and mistrust in public well being establishments has been on the rise in the USA because the starting of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly amongst Republicans.
RFK Jr. has lengthy promoted debunked pseudoscience and lies about public well being in podcast appearances, panel discussions, and his New York Instances bestseller “The Real Anthony Fauci.”
Together with Trump and DOGE bro Elon Musk, RFK Jr. has joined in on the current authorities gutting by shedding half of the general public well being workforce in February.
Corry’s abrupt resignation underscores the rising rigidity inside the Trump administration over public well being coverage. And whereas RFK Jr.’s current shift towards selling vaccines might sign a course correction, it could be too little, too late.
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