It’s the Midday Healthwatch with former Baltimore City Health Commissioner and Washington Post columnist, Dr. Leana Wen.

Last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr. canceled almost $500 million worth of grants that funded research into mRNA vaccines, technology that is credited with saving millions of lives during the height of the COVID pandemic.

In announcing the move, Kennedy demonstrated his continued willingness to embrace claims made by people considered outliers in the scientific community.

And last week, Kennedy appeared to double down on his controversial anti-vaccine beliefs when he ordered the FDA to issue its most restrictive recommendations ever for the latest COVID vaccines, limiting their availability to people over 65 and to the most high-risk individuals.

The Trump-appointed CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, reportedly pushed back hard against RFK’s vaccine policies. Kennedy fired her. Four senior CDC officials resigned in protest. On August 21, 600 CDC staffers were permanently fired, with thousands more proposed for layoffs.

Nine former directors of the CDC signed an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday under the headline “Kennedy is Endangering Every American’s Health.”

As we do every month for the Midday Healthwatch, we turn to Dr. Leana Wen. She is a former Baltimore City Health Commissioner, a columnist for the Washington Post and the author of Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.