A valid argument can be made for President Donald J. Trump’s May 2020 promotion of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines being a “historic healthcare achievement.” His supporters pointed out that Operation Warp Speed was a success in accelerating vaccine development despite and notwithstanding critics highlighting some administration mixed messaging and downplaying of the virus.
President Trump instituted a public-private partnership for accelerating the development, manufacturing, and distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19. That fast-tracked mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and others was thereby leveraging technology that was developed with public funding over many years. President Trump’s government provided billions in funding to companies to support simultaneous development and manufacturing. This reduced financial risks and expedited the timeline, leading to vaccines being produced much faster than was characteristic.
Many public health experts, including infectious disease specialists, have credited Operation Warp Speed with accelerating vaccine availability and potentially saving millions of lives. Paradoxically, they have recently voiced concern that the politicization of the vaccines by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kenedy Jr., a lawyer by profession, has ultimately eroded public trust.
Thus, the current Trump administration has reversed its stance on mRNA vaccine development. HHS Secretary RFK Jr., in August 2025, announced the cancellation of over $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine research. This decision was and continues to be heavily criticized by the public health community, i.e., most major reputable medical organizations and medical healthcare scientists, saying it is a blow to pandemic preparedness.
A significant coalition of major medical societies against the HHS’s heretical actions and policies include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, Doctors for America, American Medical Association, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Treatment Action Group (notably focused upon global efforts to combat HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis citing unreasonable cuts in essential biomedical research).
Prominent individual medical experts who have objected include those fired Advisory Committee members on Immunization Practices (ACIP), former longstanding well trained CDC employees, and recognized scientific medical experts such as:
- Rick Bright, PhD: A former official who led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and American immunologist, vaccine researcher, and public health official.
- Peter Hotez, MD, PhD: A well-known vaccinologist.
- Paul Offit, MD: A vaccinologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and former Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) member.
- Céline Gounder, MD: An American physician and medical journalist who specializes in infectious diseases and global health.
- Georges C. Benjamin, MD, MPH: The executive director of the American Public Health Association.
- Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH: The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and member of the One Health Initiative Advisory Board (Hon.)
- And many others including the One Health Initiative team members.
Mr. President, the scourge of smallpox was eradicated by vaccinations under the direction of the late brilliant CDC epidemiologist D.A.Henderson, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Public Health, University of Pittsburgh. Resident Scholar, Center for Biosecurity, U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Service Professor, Dean Emeritus, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
On April 22, 2007, in response to a request, Dr. Henderson, the legendary leader of the worldwide smallpox eradication program, sent an email response stating:
“I thank you for your email and congratulate you and your colleagues in promoting the ‘One Medicine’ concept. It is an initiative that is long overdue but, at the same time, I don’t personally identify dramatic solutions that are apt to change the landscape in the short term. I would note that when one has had the good fortune to have enjoyed the tutelage of [Dr.] Jim Steele during my tenure at CDC and periodically ever since, as a friend, the one medicine concept becomes well engrained. Indeed, when I came to Hopkins as Dean in 1977, I cast about to determine how we might link up with a veterinary school for research and educational purposes. Unfortunately, geography was simply too great a hurdle to overcome. Bottom line: I would be more than happy to do whatever I could in support of your efforts.”
President Trump, your previous HHS Secretary Alex Azar, during your first administration, despite his lack of a clinical or scientific degrees, had developed extensive expertise in the administrative, business, and policy facets of the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. While Mr. Kennedy may be well intentioned, he has had and shown no similar scientific or medical experience or knowledge signifying competence in this field. His dangerous guidance towards unscientific and anti-vaccination misinformation and his atypical, denialist, and apostatic medical science ACIP appointees have effectively served to destroy our previous longstanding public health and biomedical research Public Health Infrastructure.
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This U.S. public health infrastructure’s underpinning consists of critical federal agencies like the U.S. government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local health departments, and community organizations. It is needed to promote health and prevent disease in communities nationwide. Having a skilled apolitical public health workforce is a key component along with modern data systems for surveillance and response. This provides strong foundational capabilities for health departments and collaborative relationships across various sectors of American society. The CDC’s Public Health Infrastructure Grant is a major federal investment aimed at strengthening these components.
Albeit imperfect, the CDC became the established premier public health authority in the U.S. and worldwide over the last several decades. The U.S. public health infrastructure performed highly efficaciously, protecting and saving untold millions of living creatures.
Mr. President, before it is too late and before the chaos in HSS destroys your successful Warp Speed legacy with the countless lives you have saved, please consider replacing your current HHS Secretary with someone who can help restore integrity and a reasonably sane scientific approach for the American people. “Making America Healthy Again” requires a fact-based scientific approach. Otherwise, millions of men, women and children will suffer unnecessary illness and deaths. Your previous extraordinary vaccine achievement will forever be disfigured and lost in your presidential legacy of triumphs.
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This article was written by the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono team: Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP ▪ Bruce Kaplan, DVM ▪ Thomas P. Monath, MD ▪ Thomas M. Yuill, PhD ▪ Craig N. Carter, DVM, PhD ▪ Becky Barrentine, MBA ▪ Richard Seifman, JD, MBA.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and senior White House staff, displays his signature after signing an Executive Order ensuring that the American people have priority access to COVID-19 vaccines developed in the U.S. or procured by the U.S. Government, at the Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit, South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House, Dec. 8, 2020. Cover Photo Credit: Trump White House Archived / Shealah Craighead.
