I think Trump and RFK Jr. are Good for Public Health
"What??? Josh, really??? Don't you have a degree in this? Didn't you record COVID reports back in the day? How could you say such a crazy thing?"
Well, there you go, I said it. Allow me to explain.
Being that I have a Master's Degree in Public Health, and that I worked in the field for several years, and that I find the field interesting in its own right, means that a signficant portion of my social media bandwidth is tuned in to the many public health debates that have always been raging, but all the more so since Covid-19 and especially since the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the US Secretary for Health and Human Services. I am not an expert on RFK's background and journey to being a health evangelist or perhaps even science-doubter, but in the end of the day, I am not sure it really makes a difference that someone who is being framed by the media as less-than-qualified for the position is holding the position never the less. Also, from what I am reading and hearing, his insistence, as misguided as it may be, indicates the amount he actually cares. He may care about the wrong things for now, but at least someone is caring about something, which is more than you can say about any other previous HHS Secretary who you can't even name.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services is #12 in the order of succession (I had to look that up though I am fairly certain I had to memorize this for Ms. Goguen's Civics class in 8th grade) so this gives you an idea of the overall importance of the department to the Federal government and really to any presidential administration, Democratic or Republican. Which brings me to my first point, the importance of the department is much more (and should be) than its place in the order of succession, but it has been neglected by administrations now for generations. Having health be a priority, no matter how wild the ideas are, means that the issue of public health will remain front-and-center for many (hopefully more normal) administrations to come. At last, the nation is paying attention to public health and the important role it can play in our lives. On some level, this is a case of "any publicity is good publicity", if you ask me.
I often view much of politics as a pendulum. It will swing wildly to one end and then to the other and eventually it will settle down and end up right in the middle (either because those are the actual politics of the administration implementing the initiatives or because the extremes of one party will be cancelled out by the other). Programs that are cancelled now will be re-funded at a later date, and we might even have data that shows how important these programs were, so they will get higher funding than they would ever have otherwise. A future administration would also provide extra funding to make up lost ground during these extreme administrations that either ignored public health altogether or focused on the wrong things. Taking a break might allow us to evaluate the most effective interventions for a given public health problem instead of sticking with the same old approaches when funding returns.
This is also an opportunity for the non-governmental (and possibly even governmental) organizations to speak up and properly communicate the importance of public health in the community. So much of public health is pure communication of the risks and behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle and community. With support for these programs dwindling, the fight should not be about “orange man bad” but evaluating and highlighting the stark differences in communal health between the two paradigms. This, and only this, will be what convinces the public that we haven’t had the wool pulled over our eyes for pure political gain (which is what I think the public health backlash over Covid is mostly about, it was political gains disguised as things necessary for our survival despite the lack of evidence supporting such behaviors).
Allow me to summarize:
We have someone in the office who passionately cares about public health (whatever their definition of it may be) and is willing to make headlines about it
Any publicity is good publicity, and this will pay dividends for at least a generation
Priorities change, and things move in cycles. Public health will eventually turn the corner and be in focus for good, and perhaps be better funded than ever.
We need to seize the resources we do have to highlight and prepare for the coming day of public health redemption, otherwise, we’ll waste precious time when funding returns
As with anything during any tumultuous time, the end will eventually arrive, and things will change for the better. The question is what is done during the time of upheaval. Do we throw up our arms in despair, or do we take whatever actions we can to prepare for the day after? Each day wasted bewailing the future that public health is heading towards is another one that will be squandered once the outlook changes.
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