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Posted

Decimating the public health system will surely be an effective strategy for combatting bird flu, measles, fentanyl addiction, and the myriad maladies causing illness in Americans. Make food poisoning great again!

The FDA & CDC are expected to lose roughly 20 percent of their staff from the latest cuts alone.

  • CDC will lose about 2,400 employees with cuts to its mission
  • FDA will see 3,500 jobs cut
  • National Institutes of Health will lose 1,200 staff
  • The agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid is expected to lose 300

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/health-department-job-layoffs-rfk-jr.html

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The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it was laying off 10,000 employees at the Health and Human Services Department as part of a broad reorganization that reflects the priorities of the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the White House’s drive to shrink the government.

The layoffs are a drastic reduction in personnel for the health department, which had employed about 82,000 people and touches the lives of every American through its oversight of medical care, food and drugs.

The layoffs and reorganization will cut especially deep at two agencies within the department that have been in Mr. Kennedy’s sights: the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those agencies are expected to lose roughly 20 percent of their staff members from the latest cuts alone.

Together with previous buyouts and early retirements spurred by Trump administration policies, the move will bring the health department down to about 62,000 employees, the agency said.

The restructuring is intended to bring communications and other functions directly under Mr. Kennedy. And it includes creating a new division called the Administration for a Healthy America.

“We’re going to do more with less,” Mr. Kennedy said, even as he acknowledged that it would be “a painful period for H.H.S.”

Mr. Kennedy said rates of chronic disease rose under the Biden administration even as the government grew. He pitched the changes as a way to refocus the agency on Americans’ health, but did not outline any specifics on how he would reduce rates of diabetes, heart disease or any other conditions.

Inside the affected agencies, stunned employees struggled to absorb the news. Democrats and outside experts said the move would decimate agencies charged with protecting the health and safety of the American public, depriving them of the scientific expertise necessary to respond to current and future biological threats.

“In the middle of worsening nationwide outbreaks of bird flu and measles, not to mention a fentanyl epidemic, Trump is wrecking vital health agencies with the precision of a bull in a china shop,” said Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who has been a leader on health issues in Congress.

She called Mr. Kennedy’s comments about doing more with less an “absurd suggestion” that “defies common sense.” Her sentiments were echoed by several agency employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.

They said they worried not for themselves, but for the country, expressing concern about what the layoffs would mean for public health and whether putting safety at risk was really what Americans want.

Under the plan, the C.D.C., which handles a wide range of health issues including H.I.V./AIDS, tobacco control, maternal health and the distribution of vaccines for children, would return to its “core mission” of infectious disease.

“Converting C.D.C. to an agency solely focused on infectious diseases takes us back to 1948 without realizing that in 2025, the leading causes of death are noncommunicable disease,” said Dr. Anand Parekh, who served in the health department during the Obama administration and is now the chief medical adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

The C.D.C. will have its work force cut by about 2,400 employees, and will narrow its focus to “preparing for and responding to epidemics and outbreaks,” an H.H.S. fact sheet said. But it will also absorb the health department’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which has 1,000 employees and was elevated to its own separate agency under the Biden administration during the coronavirus pandemic.

The reorganization will cut 3,500 jobs from the F.D.A., which approves and oversees the safety of a vast swath of the medications and food people eat and rely on for well-being, the fact sheet said. The cuts are said to be administrative, but some of the roles support research and monitoring of the safety and purity of food and drugs, as well as travel planning for inspectors who investigate overseas food and drug facilities.

The National Institutes of Health will lose 1,200 staff members, and the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid is expected to lose 300.

All of those agencies tend to operate under their own authority, and Mr. Kennedy has been at odds with all of them. Mr. Kennedy assailed them, and other parts of the department, in a YouTube video.

“When I arrived, I found that over half of our employees don’t even come to work,” he claimed. “H.H.S. has more than 100 communications offices and more than 40 I.T. departments and dozens of procurement offices and nine H.R. departments. In many cases, they don’t even talk to each other. They’re mainly operating in silos.”

The 28 divisions of the Health and Human Services Department will be consolidated into 15 new divisions, according to a statement issued by the department. Mr. Kennedy announced the changes in his video. The staff cuts, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, are being made in line with President Trump’s order to carry out the Department of Government Efficiency’s drive to shrink the federal work force.

The plan also includes collapsing 10 regional H.H.S. offices into five.

The department notified union leaders of the “reduction in force” — known as a “RIF” in federal parlance — early Thursday morning by email. The message, obtained by The New York Times, said the layoffs would most likely take effect on May 27 and were “primarily aimed at administrative positions including human resources, information technology, procurement and finance.”

Democrats including Ms. Murray reacted with fury to the cuts. Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the cuts were troubling amid a bird flu outbreak and an uptick in measles cases.

“This is a grave mistake,” Mr. Connolly said in a statement, “and I have serious concerns about how this will impact Americans’ well-being now and long into the future.”

Republicans seemed to be taking more of a wait-and-see stance. Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana and the chairman of the committee that oversees health, said he had breakfast with Mr. Kennedy on Thursday. Mr. Cassidy suggested he was open to the reorganization but expected the two “would have more conversations” about specific cuts as their effects became clearer.

Doreen Greenwald, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 18,500 H.H.S. staff members across the country, issued a statement vowing to “pursue every opportunity to fight back on behalf of these dedicated civil servants.”

“The administration’s claims that such deep cuts to the Food and Drug Administration and other critical H.H.S. offices won’t be harmful are preposterous,” Ms. Greenwald said.

Xavier Becerra, who served as health secretary under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., issued a statement saying the cuts would most likely downgrade services to elderly and disabled people, and those with mental health challenges, in addition to preparedness for health crises.

“This has the makings of a man-made disaster,” he said on social media.

Mr. Kennedy suggested in the video that the changes would help his team get more access to data. That prospect has been worrisome to his critics, given Mr. Kennedy’s long history of manipulating figures to advance arguments about what he contends are the risks of vaccines that have widely been deemed safe.

“In one case,” Mr. Kennedy said, “defiant bureaucrats impeded the secretary’s office from accessing the closely guarded databases that might reveal the dangers of certain drugs and medical interventions.”

Mr. Kennedy said the new division he is creating, the Administration for a Healthy America, would combine a number of agencies focused on substance abuse treatment and chemical safety, as well as the agency that administers courts that handle federal claims over vaccine injuries.

“We’re going to consolidate all of these departments and make them accountable to you, the American taxpayer and the American patient,” he said. “These goals will honor the aspirations of the vast majority of existing H.H.S. employees who actually yearn to make America healthy.”

 

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Posted (edited)

Damaging their livers because they're following brainworm heroin addict advice instead of a doctors advice

https://www.yahoo.com/news/after-rfk-jr-recommends-vitamin-a-as-a-measles-treatment-some-texas-patients-show-signs-of-toxicity-214353603.html?guccounter=1

Weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. touted vitamin A as an effective treatment for measles amid the largest outbreak of disease in decades, hospitalized patients in West Texas are being treated for signs of vitamin A toxicity.

Several patients at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock have been found to have abnormal liver function, CNN reported, which can occur when a person takes excessive doses of vitamin A. Those being treated include “a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage,” the New York Times reported.

Edited by Captainant
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Posted
  On 3/28/2025 at 1:26 PM, Captainant said:

Damaging their livers because they're following brainworm heroin addict advice instead of of doctors advice

https://www.yahoo.com/news/after-rfk-jr-recommends-vitamin-a-as-a-measles-treatment-some-texas-patients-show-signs-of-toxicity-214353603.html?guccounter=1

Weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. touted vitamin A as an effective treatment for measles amid the largest outbreak of disease in decades, hospitalized patients in West Texas are being treated for signs of vitamin A toxicity.

Several patients at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock have been found to have abnormal liver function, CNN reported, which can occur when a person takes excessive doses of vitamin A. Those being treated include “a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage,” the New York Times reported.

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I prefer damaging my liver the old fashioned way. I also go well out of my way to be pretty healthy in every other aspect of my life so that I can keep damaging my liver for longer. 

Posted
  On 3/29/2025 at 12:35 AM, bolverk said:

73 new cases reported since Tuesday, and two more counties have been added to the list: Andrews and Midland. Of the 400 infected, only two are vaccinated people, demonstrating how effective the vaccine is. The vast majority are children, many of whom are under 5yo, and teens.

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Thank you for providing the update for Friday; got busy with work. IIRC there are around 41 patients hospitalized. Imagine how a couple of minutes in the doctor's office can prevent spending hours in the pediatric ward while a small child struggles to live.

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Posted
  On 3/29/2025 at 2:40 AM, HenryJames said:
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“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote in his letter, referring to US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Marks’ resignation takes effect April 5.

In an email, an HHS official told CNN, “If Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy.”

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Resign or be fired and get nothing.  

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Posted

I cannot believe we are having to even re-think getting re-vaccinated.

Remember all those stupid fucking people in high school. The dipshits with the reading comprehension of 7th graders, who couldn't do basic algebra. Well, that's the party wearing the flag and dictating policy in the guise of mah freedums!

They are the same fucking idiot dipshits, just fatter.

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Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 3:33 PM, crash_davis said:

I cannot believe we are having to even re-think getting re-vaccinated.

Remember all those stupid fucking people in high school. The dipshits with the reading comprehension of 7th graders, who couldn't do basic algebra. Well, that's the party wearing the flag and dictating policy in the guise of mah freedums!

They are the same fucking idiot dipshits, just fatter.

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My childhood vaccine was considered inferior to the one that came out in 1968.

Posted (edited)

Snake oil salesmen

Dipshits Still Embrace Ivermectin
Five years after the pandemic began, interest in the anti-parasitic drug is rising again as right-wing influencers promote it — and spread misinformation about it.

Joe Grinsteiner is a gregarious online personality who touts the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin. In a recent Facebook video, he produced a tube of veterinary-grade ivermectin paste — the kind made for deworming horses.

He gave the tube a squeeze. Then he licked a slug of the stuff, and gulped.

“Yum,” Mr. Grinsteiner said in the Feb. 25 video, one of a number of ivermectin-related posts he has made that have drawn millions of views on Facebook this year. “Actually, that tastes like dead cancer.”

Ivermectin, a drug proven to treat certain parasitic diseases, exploded in popularity during the pandemic amid false claims that it could treat or prevent Covid-19. Now — despite a persistent message from federal health officials that its medical benefits are limited — interest in ivermectin is rising again, particularly among American conservatives who are seeing it promoted by right-wing influencers.

Mr. Grinsteiner, 54, is a Trump supporter and country music performer who lives in rural Michigan. He has claimed in his videos that ivermectin cured his skin cancer, as well as his wife’s cervical cancer. In a video last month, he said a woman told him her nonverbal autistic child had become verbal after using ivermectin. In a recent phone interview, Mr. Grinsteiner said that he takes a daily dose of ivermectin to maintain his general well-being.

There is no evidence to support people taking ivermectin to treat cancer or autism. Yet Mr. Grinsteiner believes that the medical and political establishments just want to keep average people from discovering the healing powers of a relatively affordable drug.

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“These guys are absolutely money driven,” he said in one video. “And when I say ‘these guys,’ I’m talking about all those politicians in Washington taking money from the big pharma.”

Indeed, ivermectin has become a sort of enduring pharmacological MAGA hat: a symbol of resistance to what some in the movement describe as an elitist and corrupt cabal of politicians, scientists and medical experts. While many of those experts fear that misinformation about ivermectin could lead to overdoses — or prompt people to reject proven treatments for Covid or other ailments — conservative lawmakers in a number of states are promoting legislation that would allow ivermectin to be sold without a prescription, often in the name of medical freedom.

cont'd

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Edited by bolverk
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Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 5:13 PM, bolverk said:

“These guys are absolutely money driven,” he said in one video. “And when I say ‘these guys,’ I’m talking about all those politicians in Washington taking money from the big pharma.”

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin
 

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The avermectin family of compounds was discovered by Satoshi Ōmura of Kitasato University and William Campbell of Merck.

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Merck began marketing ivermectin as a veterinary antiparasitic in 1981

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_%26_Co.

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Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceuticalcompany headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of which it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSDoutside the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, generally ranking in the global top five by revenue.

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Buying and using Ivermectin is sticking it to Big Pharma?

Season 3 GIF by Parks and Recreation

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Posted

You know, my dogs get Ivermectin every month as a heartworm preventative, and I don't think they've ever had Covid. Of course I don't take it and I've never had heartworms. 

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Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 10:18 PM, Deej said:

You know, my dogs get Ivermectin every month as a heartworm preventative, and I don't think they've ever had Covid. Of course I don't take it and I've never had heartworms. 

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Has your vet every checked you for heartworms?

Just Saying Bernie Sanders GIF by Saturday Night Live

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Posted (edited)
  On 4/1/2025 at 9:13 PM, Guadaloopy said:

This post is the equivalent of farting into the PA microphone at Costco.  

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Pretty good description of his resignation letter in the context of his tenure at CBER. 

Edited by Anastasis
Posted
  On 4/1/2025 at 10:57 PM, Sbbruin said:


Because promoting safe and effective vaccines in bad for America?

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Marks ran off multiple top FDA reviewers with his politicization of the vax approval process during COVID under the Biden admin. 

Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 1:02 PM, DigglerontheHoof said:

Well, shit, at 58 I guess I better get re-vaccinated. 

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Yeah, I just turned 50.  There are 4 vaccines my doc wants me to get. I already got the first shingles (first of 2 shots) and the pneumonia vaccine (1 time, not annual).  Still need to get measles and tetanus.

Posted
  On 4/2/2025 at 12:12 AM, Chewbacca said:

Yeah, I just turned 50.  There are 4 vaccines my doc wants me to get. I already got the first shingles (first of 2 shots) and the pneumonia vaccine (1 time, not annual).  Still need to get measles and tetanus.

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You don't think about shingles until you hit middle age and realize just how bad it can fuck you up.

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Posted
  On 4/2/2025 at 12:26 AM, atomheartbevo said:

You don't think about shingles until you hit middle age and realize just how bad it can fuck you up.

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Both my parents have gotten it.  I'm not fucking around with that shit.  I was going to go measles/shingles but the pharmacist said it was a bad idea since a lot of people have reactions to both.  So measles coming up in a week or so. Not that worried about tetanus, but I'll get it eventually.

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Posted
  On 4/2/2025 at 12:49 AM, Chewbacca said:

Both my parents have gotten it.  I'm not fucking around with that shit.  I was going to go measles/shingles but the pharmacist said it was a bad idea since a lot of people have reactions to both.  So measles coming up in a week or so. Not that worried about tetanus, but I'll get it eventually.

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Did shingles last year.  I don’t want no part of that shit.

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Posted
  On 4/2/2025 at 12:49 AM, Chewbacca said:

Both my parents have gotten it.  I'm not fucking around with that shit.  I was going to go measles/shingles but the pharmacist said it was a bad idea since a lot of people have reactions to both.  So measles coming up in a week or so. Not that worried about tetanus, but I'll get it eventually.

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Yeah, I would not get any other shots with the shingles vax. That one fucked me up all by itself. I was so sick for about  12 hours. The "If I died right now, I'd be just fine with it" kind of sick. 

Posted
  On 4/2/2025 at 1:43 PM, Deej said:

Yeah, I would not get any other shots with the shingles vax. That one fucked me up all by itself. I was so sick for about  12 hours. The "If I died right now, I'd be just fine with it" kind of sick. 

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I didn't have any reaction other than a sore arm for a few days, but my wife said it was the second shot that really fucked her up, so I guess I'll find out in a couple of months.

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