Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy reportedly help trump The next government will decide who will be in charge of health. When I was recently asked what I would do if I had a magic wand, Kennedy said“We need to move quickly, and we hope to have that staffing on January 20th so that 600 people can be in the NIH office on January 21st.” [the National Institutes of Health]And 600 people will leave. ”
In other words, Kennedy is prepared to dismantle the National Institutes of Health, the largest funder of health research. in the worldby immediately replacing experienced and qualified employees with their own employees.
There was a time when health advances were seen as optional. In 1969 the philosopher Hans Jonas argued Society doesn't need research into a lot of health conditions. Jonas felt that if we “stop researching cancer, heart disease, and other organic, non-communicable diseases, especially those that affect older people more than young people… society can continue to thrive in all respects.” Ta. President Kennedy seems to want to return to a time when health research was not a priority.
This type of thinking ignores the fact that the NIH has facilitated countless technological advances in the health field. Based in no small part on NIH-funded research, advances in cancer treatment have made cancer prevention possible. 3.8 million deaths For those who have been diagnosed with cancer, have lost a loved one to cancer, or are increasingly grateful that their loved one survived a diagnosis that once meant certain death, we It is clear that there is no going back. clock.
NIH has also proven to be a good investment from an economic standpoint. Money used for research funds Generated over $95 billion Economic growth is expected in 2022. A new treatment for addiction that NIH helped bring into the real world could save lives and bring you $58 in profits every dollar spent.
The NIH employees Kennedy plans to fire had extensive knowledge of how to support valuable research. Why would the next administration simply ignore these values?
Kennedy says he wants to do that too. Funding infectious disease control efforts To free up more funds for chronic disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated deep political divisions, but nothing more is indisputable. 1 million people Alarmingly, the estimated number of deaths from the disease in the United States is 140,000 American lives Saved by the vaccine that the Trump administration invested in and provided to the people. Recording time.
Pandemics are becoming an increasing threat in our world modern globalized worldand Bird flu concerns remain. Kennedy's views are even more outdated than Jonas's in 1968. In the same passage quoted above, Kennedy recognized that society could not afford to “let the ravages of an epidemic go unchecked.”
As we consider who should make the most important decisions about America's health, both America's status as a world leader in health research and American lives are at stake. As long as Kennedy holds these outdated views, he is not the right person for the job.
The NIH, one of the best places in the world to support health research, should not be dismantled, but rather supported so that Americans can face future threats and ultimately thrive.
Seema K. Shah, JD is Professor of Medical Ethics. Ethics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She was previously on the staff of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and serves as a professional advisor to the National Advisory Council on Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
