RFK Jr. Defends Ouster of CDC Director By Distorting List of Public Health Achievements

Amid upheaval astatine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the firing of the agency’s director, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. distorted the facts to falsely assertion that the agency’s website lists termination arsenic 1 of the “10 top advances successful aesculapian science.”

Kennedy’s comments came successful an Aug. 28 interview on “Fox & Friends,” the time aft HHS announced on X that Susan Monarez, who had served arsenic CDC manager for less than a month after being nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate, was nary longer caput of the agency.

Monarez, who reportedly clashed with Kennedy implicit vaccine policy, has disputed the legality of her firing. Her lawyers said successful a connection posted connected X that she was targeted aft she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and occurrence dedicated wellness experts.” The aforesaid day, the Food and Drug Administration approved updated COVID-19 shots for the 2025-2026 season, but lone for definite radical based connected property oregon wellness condition, contrary to the proposal of different large medical groups. Four high-level CDC staffers also resigned.

While declining to talk astir Monarez specifically, Kennedy said in the Fox News interrogation that the “CDC has problems,” citing what helium viewed arsenic deficiencies successful the agency’s effect during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As different illustration of the CDC’s “problems,” Kennedy, who has repeatedly claimed not to beryllium anti-vaccine contempt decades of specified advocacy work, proceeded to constituent to an bureau website that helium said listed abortion, h2o fluoridation and vaccination arsenic large aesculapian advances.

“Today, connected the CDC’s website close now, they database the 10 apical advances — the 10 top advances successful aesculapian science. And 1 of them is abortion,” helium said. “Another is fluoridation, different is vaccines. So we request to look astatine the priorities of the agency, if determination is truly a deeply, profoundly embedded — I would say, malaise — astatine the agency.”

“The bureau is successful occupation and we request to hole it,” helium added. “And it whitethorn beryllium that immoderate radical should not beryllium moving determination anymore.”

Later successful the day, astatine the extremity of a press conference in Texas, Kennedy repeated the claim.

“The CDC has connected its website — contiguous — that among the apical 10 aesculapian innovations, top aesculapian accomplishments successful history, abortion. One of the top aesculapian accomplishments due to the fact that it keeps tiny families. Go to the website, look astatine fluoridation — giving kids a toxin — and vaccines.”

We could find nary CDC webpage listing the top aesculapian innovations. There are a few older reports published successful the agency’s journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, that database the apical 10 nationalist wellness achievements. But portion vaccination and h2o fluoridation are so included, termination is not a main introduction successful immoderate of them. Nor are the lists featured connected the CDC’s website successful a consumer-friendly way. The pages are web versions of published diary articles that are primarily intended for aesculapian oregon technological audiences.

HHS did not respond to our enquiry asking which database Kennedy was citing, but it’s apt that Kennedy is referring to an April 1999 MMWR that lists the 10 top nationalist wellness achievements successful the U.S. during the 20th century. (Two akin MMWR lists screen achievements successful the archetypal decennary of the 21st period and see vaccination but bash not ever notation to abortion.) In consequent MMWR articles successful 1999, which explicate the rationale for each of the choices connected the 20th period list, 2 of the entries, “Healthier mothers and babies” and “Family Planning,” see little mentions of abortion. But termination itself is not the large “achievement.”

Rather, the October 1999 “Healthier mothers and babies” MMWR is astir reductions successful maternal and babe mortality, which are attributed to “[e]nvironmental interventions, improvements successful nutrition, advances successful objective medicine, improvements successful entree to wellness care, improvements successful surveillance and monitoring of disease, increases successful acquisition levels, and improvements successful standards of living.” 

Abortion is mentioned with respect to maternal mortality and sepsis, a perchance lethal immune effect to an infection. Noting that maternal mortality was highest successful the past period during the archetypal 3 decades of the 1900s, the MMWR explains that mediocre obstetric practices were liable for galore preventable maternal deaths.  

“Deliveries, including immoderate surgical interventions, were performed without pursuing the principles of asepsis,” the nonfiction reads. “As a result, 40% of maternal deaths were caused by sepsis (half pursuing transportation and fractional associated with illegally induced abortion).”

The MMWR goes connected to explicate that accrued attraction to the contented of maternal mortality starting successful the 1930s led to maternal mortality reappraisal committees arsenic good arsenic caller signifier guidelines. In addition, much radical began delivering successful hospitals utilizing aseptic techniques and with entree to aesculapian advances specified arsenic antibiotics and safer humor transfusions. At the extremity of the paragraph, termination is mentioned erstwhile to enactment that legalization of the signifier “beginning successful the 1960s contributed to an 89% diminution successful deaths from septic amerciable abortions” betwixt 1950 and 1973.

Legalization of abortion, therefore, contributed to immoderate of the maternal mortality declines, according to the MMWR, but it was 1 of galore factors — and did not mean abortions were not occurring previously.

The “Family planning” MMWR from December 1999 is focused connected modern contraceptives, not abortion. Describing household readying arsenic it developed implicit the 20th period arsenic “the quality to execute desired commencement spacing and household size,” the nonfiction notes that “couples chose to person less children” and that “[s]maller families and longer commencement intervals person contributed to the amended wellness of infants, children, and women.”

Abortion is mentioned chiefly successful opposition to modern commencement control, since contraceptives tin forestall unintended pregnancies. The nonfiction is wide that the main extremity is to trim specified pregnancies, which successful crook would trim abortions. 

Under a conception titled “Challenges,” the nonfiction states that unintended gestation successful the U.S. “remains a problem; 49% of pregnancies are unintended and 54% of these extremity successful abortion.” It besides notes that some of those rates are higher successful the U.S. than different high-income countries.

“Access to precocious prime contraceptive services volition proceed to beryllium an important origin successful promoting steadfast pregnancies and preventing unintended gestation successful this country,” the nonfiction reads.

The nonfiction does not straight beforehand abortion, though it is captious of “restrictive policies and laws affecting household planning” and supports providing “the afloat array of reproductive health-care services.” It besides lists Roe v. Wade, the now-overturned 1973 Supreme Court lawsuit that established a law close to abortion, arsenic a “milestone” successful household planning.

The remaining six achievements — immoderate of which align with Kennedy’s professed goals — are improvements successful centrifugal conveyance safety; safer workplaces; power of infectious illness via cleanable h2o and sanitation; a diminution successful deaths from coronary bosom illness and stroke; safer and healthier foods; and reductions successful baccy usage aft it was recognized arsenic a wellness hazard.

Kennedy’s assertion that the fluoride added to drinking h2o to amended dental wellness is simply a “toxin” is also misleading. As we’ve explained before, precocious amounts of fluoride successful h2o tin beryllium harmful, but astatine the level recommended successful the U.S., determination is lone anemic oregon inconsistent information to suggest immoderate harm. Most of the interest has focused connected the anticipation of fluoride reducing IQ scores successful children. But associations betwixt fluoride and little IQ person lone been consistently observed astatine levels supra what is recommended successful the U.S. Many adept groups, including the American Dental Association, proceed to enactment h2o fluoridation to support teeth from cavities. 

The CDC, astatine slightest for now, besides continues to enactment h2o fluoridation, calling it a safe and effectual intervention that is “a cornerstone strategy for prevention of cavities successful the U.S.”

The CDC refers to its apical 10 nationalist wellness achievements database oregon links to related MMWRs connected a fewer webpages about fluoride or vaccination. We were incapable to find immoderate akin hyperlinking oregon citation connected pages related to abortion.

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