(Ingrid Haunold, 17 November 2024; first published on substack.com on 17 November 2024).
Trump Presidency 2.0: Will Bobby Quack become the next Secretary for Health and Human Services?
On October 28, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump told his audience at a rally in New York City that he would let the late, great Robert F. Kennedy’s son “go wild on health” (NBC News, 2024). I’m guessing RFK must be turning in his grave by now, regretting the decision to name his second-oldest son after himself. So let’s rename him, shall we?
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on November 15, 2024: “Mr. Kennedy is entirely unqualified to lead our federal health programs. While masquerading as a crusader against corporate influence or for the concerns of children and parents, Mr. Kennedy pushes quack science that will cause more disease and death. His theories are unsubstantiated and dangerous. This position has life and death responsibilities. America deserves nothing less than a serious person to fill it. Mr. Kennedy is not that person” (Durbin, 2024).
Quack science from someone who’s not even a scientist himself….Bobby Quack seems a fitting name for him, don’t you think?
Now that we’ve sorted out his name, let’s move on:
Apparently, Bobby Quack wants “to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.”
Were they ever?
A study by the Pew Research Center published in 2016 shows how American eating habits changed over the course of 40 years, from 1970–2010. More chicken, less red meat; more cheese, less milk – but Americans have never been known to be healthy eaters. Fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts and soy products never featured prominently in American diets. However, the data also shows that in 2010, Americans consumed considerably more calories than they did in the 1970s. Consumption of grain products, and fats and oils also increased considerably. I’m guessing Americans’ eating habits have gotten progressively worse since this data was released in 2016. So, go Bobby! Try and make America healthy (for the first time ever)! You’ll fail, of course, but go, go, go!
Bobby Quack wants to ban hundreds of chemicals and food additives, and I, for one, am all for it. I love that he wants to cut ultra-processed foods from school lunches and tackle diet-related chronic diseases. He plans to revisit “pesticide and other chemical-use standards, as well as reforming crop subsidies” (Reuters, 2024). All that makes sense and would have my full support, if I were an American citizen. (I am an Austrian citizen who has only ever voted for the Austrian Social Democratic Party or The Greens, since 1986.)
I also support Bobby Quack’s position on Fluoride in drinking water – many countries don’t add Fluoride to their drinking water, including Austria. (I do remember being given fluoride tablets in elementary school once a week, back in the 1970s – not sure that’s still happening in elementary schools today.) Removing fluoride from public water supplies is not a big deal, Americans won’t all of a sudden drop dead if public policy is changed on that matter. Relax! Four MAGA-years without Fluoride in your drinking water won’t kill you.
And what about vaccines? Bobby Quack told the British news agency Reuters that “every American who wants a vaccine for themselves or their children will have access to them” (Reuters, 2024). If you want to get vaccinated, you can. So, no reason to panic in this regard, either. In Austria, we also don’t have mandatory vaccinations, and people aren’t dying in droves. But as a nation, we have achieved herd immunity, as most people in Austria are not Deep State conspiracy theorists and actually believe that vaccines can protect them from potentially harmful diseases.
Much of what Bobby Quack says makes sense, and his nomination for Secretary of the US’s Department of Health and Human Services won’t all of a sudden return the US to the Dark Ages of Public Health Management. However….
Those people in the US who think that vaccines are harmful will feel strengthened in their beliefs, and won’t get themselves vaccinated against many diseases which can cause serious bodily harm or even cause death, and for which vaccines exist. My point of view on this matter is simple: Let the MAGA crazies get sick and die – you can’t save everybody, so don’t even try. Protect yourself and your families by getting vaccinated. The great thing about vaccines is that they actually work. If you’re vaccinated, you probably won’t get sick if you are exposed to someone who is infected. If you do get sick – vaccines greatly reduce the risk of infections, but won’t protect you 100% – chances are that you won’t die.
In free and democratic societies, people have the right to make their own decisions, even if they are stupid decisions which might lead to their deaths or the deaths of their children. You’re not responsible for somebody else’s bad choices which might cause them harm. Some (many?) non-vaccinated people in the US will die, that’s a given: Gov. Josh Green (D-HI), a physician, who vaccinated children during a measles outbreak in Samoa told CNN that Bobby Quack scared parents away from vaccinating their children, and which (according to Gov. Green) resulted in the deaths of 83 Samoan children. It’s difficult to prove cause and effect in regard to the deaths of these children, but I’m “Team Green”: I do think that many of those deaths could have been prevented, had the children’s parents not been scared off vaccines (by Bobby Quack, or someobdy else).
And that’s why I call him Bobby Quack. There’s nothing wrong with letting people make their own choices about health-related matters. But these choices should be based on real science, not quack science like the one that Bobby Quack spouts. And, boy, does he quack-quack-quack a lot of nonsense! It beggars belief.
Just tune him out, and ignore everything he says in regard to vaccines.
My advice to Americans: After January 20, 2025, get your information about health-related matters from sources other than the U.S.’s Department of Health and Human Services (or any other US-government-related sources). You can access plenty of trustworthy scientific resources on the Internet. The Austrian (conservative) government’s English-language information about “Recommended vaccinations for those under the age of two” are – in my opinion – a trustworthy source, and the City of Vienna’s “Routine immunisation schedule for babies and toddlers / pre-school children” might also be a useful guide for parents of young children in the US. Scroll down to the “notes”-section of my article where you’ll find links to both sources.
NOTES (listed in order of citations used for this article):
Jackson, Patrick (2024, November 15). Trump picks vaccine sceptic RFK Jr for health secretary. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlne0n191wo
NBC News (2024, October 28). Trump says he would let anti-vaccine advocate RFK Jr. ‘go wild on health’. https://www.nbcnews.com/video/-trump-says-he-would-let-anti-vaccine-advocate-rfk-jr-go-wild-on-health-222810181633
Durbin, Dick (2024, November 15). Durbin Statement On President-Elect Trump’s Department Of Health And Human Services Nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-statement-on-president-elect-trumps-department-of-health-and-human-services-nominee-robert-f-kennedy-jr
Collins, Kaitlan, Holmes, Kristen, & Pellish, Aaron (2024, November 14). Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his Department of Health and Human Services secretary. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/14/politics/robert-f-kennedy-donald-trump-hhs/index.html
Desilver, Drew (2016, December 13). What’s on your table? How America’s diet has changed over the decades. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/12/13/whats-on-your-table-how-americas-diet-has-changed-over-the-decades/
Reuters, (2024, November 15). RFK Jr.’s plan for changing the U.S. food and drug system. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rfk-jrs-plan-changing-us-food-drug-system-2024-11-15/
Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care, and Consumer Protection (n. d.). Häufige Fragen zum Trinkwasser. Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care, and Consumer Protection, Republic of Austria. https://www.trinkwasserinfo.at/faq
CNN (2024, November 15). Doctor warns about RFK Jr., citing measles deaths in Samoa. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/15/politics/video/rfk-jr-vaccine-measles-outbreak-samoa-digvid
Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (2024, August 07). Recommended vaccinations for those under the age of two. Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, Republic of Austria. https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/themen/familie_und_partnerschaft/eltern-kind-pass/Seite.080400.html
City of Vienna (n. d.). Routine immunisation schedule for babies and toddlers / pre-school children. https://www.wien.gv.at/english/health/vaccination/plan/babies.html