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#hhs

39 posts23 participants0 posts today
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…The #resettlement of #refugees is normally funded in large part by the #State Dept. But #Trump suspended that program….

So the admin will be relying more on another agency that has traditionally supported refugees: a refugee office in #HHS. That office has been reaching out to organizations assisting the #white refugees in recent days to prepare them for the arrival of the #Afrikaners, according to a department memo obtained by NYT.

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The #Trump admin plans to send government officials to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia for an event marking the arrival of the #SouthAfricans, who belong to the #white minority #Afrikaner ethnic group, acc/to the memo from #HHS. The admin initially planned to welcome the #Afrikaners on Monday, but some officials familiar w/the matter cautioned that the plans remained in flux, subject to flight logistics & processing of the group.

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“They can make your life unpleasant, even if they’re violating the #law & a court ultimately determines they’re violating the law,”said Samuel Bagenstos, who was general counsel of #HHS under #Biden.

#Harvard declined to comment, but the dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Harvard’s largest division, acknowledged the scale of the problems….

“These federal actions have set in motion changes that will not be undone, at least not in the foreseeable future,”said dean Hopi E. Hoekstra….

NEW: Who is Casey Means, whom Trump has nominated to replace Janette Nesheiwat as his US surgeon general pick?

The MD dropped out of residency, became a functional medicine doctor, and recently penned a poem called “The Devil’s Wellness Plan,” @STAT's Isa Cueto tells us

statnews.com/2025/05/07/trump-

STAT · Trump nominates Casey Means, entrepreneurial doctor and MAHA leader, for surgeon generalMeans, a doctor, entrepreneur and MAHA influencer, is nominated to be next U.S. Surgeon General. Her brother is already advising Kennedy.

"He became particularly visible as he criticized what he believed was the federal government's overreach in requiring lockdowns in the early days of the COVID pandemic and pressuring the public to wear face masks...During an April 2024 podcast, he said, 'Our response towards young people and people in their 20s and 30s was heavy-handed and overbearing and violated some of the norms of Western democratic free societies.'"

medpagetoday.com/washington-wa

www.medpagetoday.comVinay Prasad, Critic of COVID Measures, Picked as FDA's Top Vaccine OfficialHematologist-oncologist is known for his criticisms of FDA and COVID masking, vaccine policies
#healthcare#FDA#HHS
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#Autism is a neurological & developmental condition marked by disruptions in #brain-signaling that cause people to behave, communicate, interact, & learn in atypical ways.

Last month, #HHS had denied it was creating a new autism #registry following media reports that #NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told staff the agency would create one.

#law#privacy#HIPAA

"Prasad’s appt🚨is bad news for biotech & worse news for patients waiting on new therapies, but I honestly think it’s bad news for Vinay too.

It’s easy to criticize from the outside. But now he owns all the decisions & he’s gonna be hated by everyone."
-N Mark

"Taking bets on how long it’s gonna be until Prasad realizes that his new job is not the same thing as tweeting contrarian takes & blocking dissenters, switching MED specialties at will, & recording podcasts?
-S Panhwar
#HHS #FDA #USPol

RFK Jr cut HICPAC, the department responsible for reducing hospital acquired infections.

He cut NIOSH, a group dedicated to protecting workers and certifying PPE.

He made Vinay Prasad, a vaccine skeptic and Covid minimizer, the head of vaccines at the FDA

They’re not ending the chronic illness epidemic, they’re ending the chronically ill

In theory, blocking disability advocates & people who promote public health measures like masks and vaccines should disqualify you from public office

If you can’t engage in debate or others viewpoints, you aren’t qualified to lead anything

In the Trump regime? You get to be the vaccine head of FDA.

Get your boosters now while you still can, don’t trust Prasad to allow them to continue.

cnn.com/2025/05/06/health/fda-

CNN · FDA chooses Dr. Vinay Prasad to lead biologics, vaccines divisionBy Sarah Owermohle
#hhs#fda#uspoli

Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) becomes the latest casualty of Trump regime

They were close to finalizing guidelines for airborne infection control in hospitals, including the use of N95 masks.

Hospital acquired COVID has a 10% mortality rate. We’re seeing the worst measles outbreak in a decade. Drug resistant fungus is on the rise.

Cutting the people whose sole job was to reduce hospital acquired infections will just lead to more death, disability and healthcare worker attrition.

This isn’t how you eliminate the chronic disease epidemic, it’s how you eliminate the chronically ill.

nbcnews.com/health/health-news

NBC News · Trump administration has shut down CDC's infection control committeeBy Aria Bendix
#hicpac#uspoli#hhs
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Out of Trump's entire cast of rejected supervillains from a movie about HYDRA, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is the most obviously delusional bullshitter; and yet owing to both his position, and the absolutely unhinged shit he processes to believe about health and medicine, he might legitimately be the most dangerous reactionary in the whole fascist cabinet. We've already talked about Kennedy's anti-science, anti-vax conspiracy beliefs, and his ablest, eugenicist attacks on autistic people; as a recent Ars Technical article drawn from RFK Jr's own book points out however, Kennedy is also a self-admitted germ theory denialist. No, really; this guy is on the wrong side of a biology debate settled in the 19th Century.

arstechnica.com/health/2025/04

RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory

"The trouble is that now that Kennedy is the country's top health official, his warped ideas are contributing to the rise of a dystopian reality. Federal health agencies are spiraling into chaos, and critical public health services for Americans have been brutally slashed, dismantled, or knee-capped—from infectious disease responses, the lead poisoning team, and Meals on Wheels to maternal health programs and anti-smoking initiatives, just to name a few. The health of the nation is at stake; the struggle to understand what goes on in Kennedy's head is vital.

While we may never have definitive answers on his cognitive situation, one thing is plain: Kennedy's thoughts and actions make a lot more sense when you realize he doesn't believe in a foundational scientific principle: germ theory."

Okay so this isn't the most important thing to take from this article, but I'd just like to start with the fact that Kennedy is such a hack that he keeps calling his beliefs about health and disease "miasma theory" (an even older, and more discredited idea about "vapors" causing disease) but the beliefs he's describing actually align with (the still discredited) "terrain theory." This fraud-ass woo-peddling not even a doctor freak is busting out old-timey medical woo from the 1800's and he can't even be arsed to get the name of the hokum he's peddling right? At some point it really doesn't matter if Kennedy is a true believer in objectively wrong pseudo-science or an assclown grifter, but based on him using the term "miasma theory" to describe a completely different bullshit idea, I'm leaning towards assclown grifter.

Given that Kennedy has made himself a sort of anti-Big Pharma prophet in the larger fascist right by deflecting (justified) American anger towards the for-profit pharmaceutical industry, into unhelpful conspiracy channels and the arms of "wellness gurus" who're closely aligned with right wing politics, it doesn't really matter what RFK Jr believes in his heart. His objectives however, couldn't be any clearer if you read why he rejects germ theory.

"Kennedy contrasts his erroneous take on miasma theory with germ theory, which he derides as a tool of the pharmaceutical industry and pushy scientists to justify selling modern medicines. The abandonment of miasma theory, Kennedy bemoans, realigned health and medical institutions to "the pharmaceutical paradigm that emphasized targeting particular germs with specific drugs rather than fortifying the immune system through healthy living, clean water, and good nutrition."

According to Kennedy, germ theory gained popularity, not because of the undisputed evidence supporting it, but by "mimicking the traditional explanation for disease—demon possession—giving it a leg up over miasma."

To this day, Kennedy writes, a "$1 trillion pharmaceutical industry pushing patented pills, powders, pricks, potions, and poisons, and the powerful professions of virology and vaccinology led by 'Little Napoleon' himself, Anthony Fauci, fortify the century-old predominance of germ theory."

In all, the chapter provides a clear explanation of why Kennedy relentlessly attacks evidence-based medicines; vilifies the pharmaceutical industry; suggests HIV doesn't cause AIDS and antidepressants are behind mass shootings; believes that vaccines are harmful, not protective; claims 5G wireless networks cause cancer; suggests chemicals in water are changing children's gender identities; and is quick to promote supplements to prevent and treat diseases, such as recently recommending vitamin A for measles and falsely claiming children who die from the viral infection are malnourished."

Folks, have I mentioned that this man is literally not a doctor, or scientist, but he's in charge of the entire health apparatus of the American government yet? Kennedy's ability to blur the line between crank, reactionary grifter, and eugenicist ideologue puts him on par with your average crypto-fascist Youtuber; the problem is that we're locked in with him, forced to watch his channel because he's running HHS.

Ars Technica · RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theoryBy Beth Mole
#Fascism#RFKJr#HHS

Admin for Comm Living: a vitally impt Inst to keep ppl with disabilities & elderly ppl in their homes. #RFKJr & #DOGE are targeting it.

Ironically -talk of govt efficiency -pt of #ACL -supposed to be one centralized org to promote comm living svcs at risk being scattered around bureaucracies.

ACL is being "broken up for spare parts."
Up for elimination?
-St dev disability councils
-Protection & Advocacy orgs
-Programs to stop old ppl from falling

#Seniors #HHS #USPol
independent.co.uk/news/world/a