‘Bigger than politics’: Former surgeons general warn of instability at HHS

A bipartisan group of former U.S. surgeons general expressed significant concern in HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership in a joint op-ed published Oct. 7 in The Washington Post.

The former surgeons general — who collectively served under every president since George H.W. Bush — claim Mr. Kennedy’s actions and policies are undermining public health, eroding trust in science and damaging the nation’s health institutions. 

“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this,” they wrote. “But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

The physician leaders argue that Mr. Kennedy has replaced evidence-based decision-making with misinformation, destabilizing the U.S. public health system. They assert that his leadership has also damaged the HHS workforce and created an atmosphere of fear and distrust, sidelining hundreds of scientists, public health officials and medical professionals. 

While acknowledging that U.S. public health systems require reform, the former surgeons general said that such change must be grounded in transparency, truth and science. They called for leadership that restores trust in federal health agencies and safeguards the well-being of all Americans.

“Having served at senior levels in government, we know that politics are complicated,” they concluded. “But this is bigger than politics. It’s about putting the health of Americans first.”

Read the full op-ed here.

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