RFKism: Why the Collapse of American Public Health Isn't Just Their Problem

Why should we care about health policy matters in the US? With the fact that their health policies are led by people who are up to their noses in the mire of alternative medicine, pseudoscience and conspiracy theories and who partly encouraged or spread misinformation themselves? The collapse of American public health and the marginalization of evidence-based medicine has repercussions around the world.

Let's put it in context.

First, let's see just a few things that are happening and show us the serious level of collapse of public health policies in the USA.

• In August, a gunman reportedly angry over the COVID vaccine fired hundreds of rounds into CDC headquarters, killing a police officer. This attack was motivated by Qanon conspiracy theories that were propagated especially during the pandemic.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr (currently serving as US Secretary of Health) has announced new, more restrictive recommendations on who should receive the COVID vaccine boosters, eliminating, among other things, healthy pregnant women and virtually all healthy able-bodied people.
• RFK ended contracts-grants on mRNA vaccine research worth 500 million dollars.
• RFK fired all 17 members of the CDC's prestigious immunization advisory board, replacing them with eight appointees, some of whom had anti-vaccination histories.
• At the same time, RFK claims that he can diagnose (autistic) children just by looking at them.
• In August 2025, the newly appointed director of the CDC (American Centers for Disease Control), Susan Monarez, was fired , most likely because of disagreements with RFK on the issue of vaccines, and four senior officials of the agency abruptly resigned. As BMJ writes, Senator Bernie Sanders (DEM) and nine previous CDC directors are calling for RFK's resignation.
• On September 3, 2025, we get the news that RFK removed Paul Offit, one of the world's leading experts on vaccines, from the advisory board of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Offit is a prominent critic of RFK and others who spread misinformation about vaccines. This is a complete politically motivated persecution of science and scientists. American Lysekoism, which we will call RFKeism.
• On September 3, 2025, we learn that Governor Ron DeSantis from Florida (REP) and Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced the abolition of mandatory vaccination for this federal state (vaccination as a condition for school enrollment). On that occasion, Ladapo said “Your body is a gift from God” – which is a common narrative in Christianity and evangelical sects that the human body is so perfect that it does not need any support from the side, such as vaccines. This is not the first anti-national move by the Nigerian-American doctor Ladap – he signed the Great Barrington Declaration , spread fear of mRNA vaccines and misinterpreted VAERS (American Adverse Event Reporting System) data. Ladapo is an example of the authority argument – the logical fallacy of taking someone as an expert just because of the title.

So, what is happening is the persecution of science and scientists motivated by narratives that suit the GOP  and conservatives.

Still, there are signs of civic bravery in the US. American societies in the field of infectious diseases have called for the resignation of RFK Jr. They depend on federal funding and this could cost them funding. However, the letter they published shows a dedication to the values ​​of science and truth that transcends personal and private interests.

Support for vaccinating kids against infectious diseases dropped from 81% in 1991 to 51% 2024 according CNN.

How does the collapse of public health in the US affect Europe, including the Western Balkans and Croatia?

These conclusions and events will give wind to disinformation and spreaders of negative narratives and pseudoscience, alternative medicine. Already in Croatia, Marin Miletić spreads misinformation about HPV vaccines. All and every libertarian-right-wing-conservative zombie will rise up on this news and demonize public health and vaccines. Events in the US legitimize them to do so.

I have long been talking about the coupling of public health science and politics, and that conservative political movements have a tendency towards pseudoscience, attachment to vaccines and alternative medicine.

Given that the right-wing current is growing stronger in France, as well as in Germany, the UK, while in Italy they are in power, it is to be expected that when they come to power (there is a high probability that such a shift will occur), they will do the same as the American religious fanatics, right-wing and conservatives, admirers of alternative medicine: to remove evidence-based medicine from public health and help the anti-vax movement.

You wonder what the goal of these events is? Why would anyone want their citizens to be sicker and for diseases to spread? One reason is to get rich because only the rich will have access to some kind of normal healthcare because public healthcare will not exist. Public healthcare has been threatened for years, and now the goal is to destroy it and transfer it to private clinics or to offer alternative medicine as an way to go. But alternative medicine, do not forget, is also a huge money maker – trillions are spinning here and the profits in this industry exceed the profits of the pharmaceutical industry.

The post RFKism: Why the Collapse of American Public Health Isn't Just Their Problem appeared first on Nauka govori.