Former top doctors condemn health secretary’s vaccine, research policies, saying ideology replaced science at HHS

Six former US surgeons general – the top medical posting in Washington – warned in an opinion column published Tuesday that policy changes enacted by health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are “endangering the health of the nation”.

The surgeons general – Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, Joycelyn Elders, Vivek Murthy, Antonia Novello and David Satcher – who served under both Republican and Democrat administrations, identified changes in vaccine policy, medical research funding, a shift in priorities from rationality to ideology, plunging morale, and changes to staffing as areas of concern.