It is infuriating to think about what is happening at HHS, FDA and CDC; and important to be aware of it all. If we don’t know what is going on, we have no hope of stopping the runaway train of incompetence. Thank you Dr. Faust.
The potential devastation caused by this unethical maneuvering on the chessboard of power grabs is unthinkable. Thinking of the possible inconsistent administration of childhood vaccines, and knowing how many school districts are heavily populated by people from all over the world and staffed by many pregnant teachers at any given time, I wonder: what could possibly go wrong??? Will share your email (which explains things so well).
It's good that your learning more about politics. You already had the medical science brain down. It still shocks me how many people within our public healthcare gov were so slow to understand how all this would pan out. For people like myself who advocate for those most marginalized in all this...disabled and/or chronically ill, who live it everyday, deal with an already failing for-profit healthcare system, we cannot not understand why so many medical workers, in advance, did not get how destructive it would be to have Trump & Co. (oligarch/dictator) in charge of our health institutions. Even after he was first elected. I'm sitting here with COVID for the first time in a body with no B cells (due to DMD's for MS), weakened diaphragm from MS, and CVID (Common Variable Immune Deficiency - 0-low IGgs. My own PCP has 4 minutes of recorded instructions to wade through on the phone before I can talk to a non-medical person. Not even a nurse. His message back passes me to my MS neuro/immunologist for Paxlovid contraindications. More 3rd party messaging. Instructions on current standards on keeping others safe, let alone for myself and husband are vague and conflicting. Accurate data was already in question from CDC as America wanted to hide their heads in the sand about COVID before Trump. Now who DO WE TRUST? I have come to make a distinction in our formerly trusted agencies compared to now, i.e. Trump CDC, Trump NIH, Trump Department of Energy, etc. We're definitely seeing an increase of COVID in the Pioneer Valley of Western MA. I see it in friends, co-workers, and hear it from doctors, but CDC say MA level is very low. CBS has reported there is also a new strain from China. And how are we going to encourage under-educated populations to get vaccinated for ANYTHING now?
I wonder how reliable the CDC wastewater levels are anymore. My state reports the 10 local sites on health department website— while they still have funding : MA has many health departments while RI has one.
The damage caused by Trump and everybody who trails along with his regime is just staggering. I can't wrap my mind around how much destruction has been done to public health alone. Thanks as always for keeping us up to date, Dr. Faust. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
I am 💯 NOT surprised that RFK Jr has backhandedly create vaccine disruption for the American population. He has blatantly shown his true feelings about vaccines for decades and Sen Bill Cassidy thought he was genuine in his answers? To quote a line from Friends, “once a cheater, always a cheater!” Just insert vaccine denier in place of the word cheater. Thanks for all that you do to uncover this rabbit hole of deception.
You write: "On May 20, two HHS officials write that they will unilaterally change FDA policy on vaccines, making it harder for vaccines to reach the market. They also imply that HHS would be better off not recommending Covid-19 vaccines to as many people as it has until now." It seems odd to call Prasad and Makary "HHS officials," we are talking about the head of the FDA and a division thereof. I suppose technically they are with HHS since the FDA is a agency within the HHS but still, while you may disagree with their editorial and policy, or whether the FDA is even the correct agency to make these decisions, it is still fairly natural for top FDA officials to adopt a position of the FDA.
It is infuriating to think about what is happening at HHS, FDA and CDC; and important to be aware of it all. If we don’t know what is going on, we have no hope of stopping the runaway train of incompetence. Thank you Dr. Faust.
We have to get Congress to WAKE UP.
The potential devastation caused by this unethical maneuvering on the chessboard of power grabs is unthinkable. Thinking of the possible inconsistent administration of childhood vaccines, and knowing how many school districts are heavily populated by people from all over the world and staffed by many pregnant teachers at any given time, I wonder: what could possibly go wrong??? Will share your email (which explains things so well).
Thank you. Please do share it. And thanks to people like you, I’m able to keep most of this content free. 🙏
I still don’t understand why Senator Cassidy believed Kennedy with his history of lying about anything vaccine related.
He chose the hope of re-election over our kids. That’s it.
Well, fear of having to answer to MAGA, would be top of my list.
Thanks for righteous anger. It clarifies and reinforces. Thanks for rising to this horrible occasion, consistently.
I hope it helps!
It's good that your learning more about politics. You already had the medical science brain down. It still shocks me how many people within our public healthcare gov were so slow to understand how all this would pan out. For people like myself who advocate for those most marginalized in all this...disabled and/or chronically ill, who live it everyday, deal with an already failing for-profit healthcare system, we cannot not understand why so many medical workers, in advance, did not get how destructive it would be to have Trump & Co. (oligarch/dictator) in charge of our health institutions. Even after he was first elected. I'm sitting here with COVID for the first time in a body with no B cells (due to DMD's for MS), weakened diaphragm from MS, and CVID (Common Variable Immune Deficiency - 0-low IGgs. My own PCP has 4 minutes of recorded instructions to wade through on the phone before I can talk to a non-medical person. Not even a nurse. His message back passes me to my MS neuro/immunologist for Paxlovid contraindications. More 3rd party messaging. Instructions on current standards on keeping others safe, let alone for myself and husband are vague and conflicting. Accurate data was already in question from CDC as America wanted to hide their heads in the sand about COVID before Trump. Now who DO WE TRUST? I have come to make a distinction in our formerly trusted agencies compared to now, i.e. Trump CDC, Trump NIH, Trump Department of Energy, etc. We're definitely seeing an increase of COVID in the Pioneer Valley of Western MA. I see it in friends, co-workers, and hear it from doctors, but CDC say MA level is very low. CBS has reported there is also a new strain from China. And how are we going to encourage under-educated populations to get vaccinated for ANYTHING now?
Here’s what will happen: people will get sick (kids, too) and then we’ll see a rebound in vaccine interest. An expensive lesson.
I wonder how reliable the CDC wastewater levels are anymore. My state reports the 10 local sites on health department website— while they still have funding : MA has many health departments while RI has one.
I hope you get the care you need, promptly.
So far I think they are ok but I’ll ask around
Complete madness!
The damage caused by Trump and everybody who trails along with his regime is just staggering. I can't wrap my mind around how much destruction has been done to public health alone. Thanks as always for keeping us up to date, Dr. Faust. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
I am 💯 NOT surprised that RFK Jr has backhandedly create vaccine disruption for the American population. He has blatantly shown his true feelings about vaccines for decades and Sen Bill Cassidy thought he was genuine in his answers? To quote a line from Friends, “once a cheater, always a cheater!” Just insert vaccine denier in place of the word cheater. Thanks for all that you do to uncover this rabbit hole of deception.
This is all just sickening. The AAP needs to scream - and loudly (but, sadly, that’s not their style).
There is nothing remotely related to Wellness and Health in allowing RFK Jr., the fox, to guard the proverbial henhouse.
You write: "On May 20, two HHS officials write that they will unilaterally change FDA policy on vaccines, making it harder for vaccines to reach the market. They also imply that HHS would be better off not recommending Covid-19 vaccines to as many people as it has until now." It seems odd to call Prasad and Makary "HHS officials," we are talking about the head of the FDA and a division thereof. I suppose technically they are with HHS since the FDA is a agency within the HHS but still, while you may disagree with their editorial and policy, or whether the FDA is even the correct agency to make these decisions, it is still fairly natural for top FDA officials to adopt a position of the FDA.