FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 13, 2025

Contact: Jack Cardinal, jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org 

Conspiracy Theorist Will Set Back Public Health Efforts And Endanger Communities

Following the Senate vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mona Shah, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy at Community Catalyst, released the following statement:

“This is a dark day for public health in this country. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wholly unqualified and dangerous. And having him lead the Health and Human Services Department is a direct threat to our country’s public health. 

“His conspiracy theories around vaccines, which he now has an even greater platform to spread, will set back public health and evidence-based science in this country and have an outsized, harmful impact on systemically excluded communities. 

“Many Senators know this and voted for him anyway. By doing so, they put their blind loyalty to Trump above the public health of the nation. 

“We will not give up. Working with our partners across the country, we will continue to work to  strengthen our public health system, making health care more affordable and accessible and continue to advocate for preventive care and evidence-based research.”

Learn more about Community Catalyst’s work to advance Community-First Public Health priorities, as well as vaccine equity. Our community report on Long COVID can be found here. 

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About Community Catalyst:   

Community Catalyst is a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, and a society where health is a right for all. We’re an experienced, trusted partner to organizations across the country, a change agent to policymakers at the local, state, and national level, and both an adversary and a collaborator to health systems in our efforts to advance health justice. We partner with local, state and national organizations and leaders to leverage and build power so that people are at the center of important decisions about health and health care, whether they are made by health care executives, in state houses, or on Capitol Hill. Together with partners, we’re building a powerful, united movement with a shared vision of and strategy for a health system accountable to all people. Learn more at www.communitycatalyst.org.