Tag

#public-health

Incidents affecting public health infrastructure and the right to health, including dismantlement of health agencies, restriction of health information, and policies undermining disease prevention and response capabilities.

6 incidents

Updated December 1, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Scott Atlas and Herd Immunity: Trump's COVID Advisor Who Contradicted Scientists

Atlas was a Hoover Institution senior fellow and media commentator with no relevant credentials for pandemic response. Trump appointed him after seeing him on Fox News. Atlas advocated the Great Barrington Declaration approach — allowing the virus to spread among the young and healthy while 'protecting' the vulnerable. Public health experts pointed out this approach was not operationally feasible and would require accepting enormous numbers of preventable deaths. CDC Director Robert Redfield and the Coronavirus Task Force's other scientific advisors repeatedly contradicted Atlas. Deborah Birx described Atlas in her memoir as actively harmful to the pandemic response.

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COVIDherd-immunityScott-Atlasfirst-termpublic-health
Updated October 1, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

CDC and FDA Political Interference: Science Overridden for Political Messaging

The Washington Post and New York Times documented a pattern of White House interference with CDC scientific publications. CDC reports in the MMWR — the agency's flagship peer-reviewed publication that had never previously been subject to political review — were reviewed and in some cases altered by Michael Caputo, a political appointee installed at HHS with no public health credentials. Caputo was later placed on leave after a Facebook video in which he accused CDC scientists of a 'resistance unit' against Trump. CDC Director Redfield testified that CDC school reopening guidance was replaced after Trump tweeted that it was 'very tough and expensive.' The FDA's hydroxychloroquine EUA and convalescent plasma approval were both accompanied by documented political pressure.

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CDCFDACOVIDscience-interferencefirst-term
Updated August 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

COVID Misinformation: Hydroxychloroquine, Bleach Injection, UV Light Promotion

Trump promoted hydroxychloroquine at least 65 times in White House briefings before studies established it was ineffective and potentially dangerous for COVID. He suggested at an April 23, 2020 briefing that injecting disinfectants might work as treatment and asked officials to study inserting UV light 'inside the body.' Poison control centers reported a spike in calls after the disinfectant comments. The FDA granted hydroxychloroquine an Emergency Use Authorization in March 2020 under White House pressure, then revoked it in June 2020 citing 'serious cardiac adverse events.' Trump campaign donors funded oleander extract studies. His false '35% mortality improvement' claim for convalescent plasma prompted FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn to issue a correction the same day.

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covidmisinformationhydroxychloroquinebleachfirst-term
Updated September 9, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

COVID-19 Downplaying: Woodward Tapes Reveal Trump Knew and Lied

Trump told Woodward on February 7, 2020 that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' and acknowledged it was much more dangerous than the flu. On the same days he was giving Woodward these assessments, Trump was telling the public the virus was 'like the flu' and 'will disappear.' On March 19, 2020, Trump told Woodward: 'I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't like to panic people.' The Woodward recordings also captured Trump describing COVID's airborne transmission weeks before public health officials acknowledged it. The U.S. death toll reached 200,000 by September 2020 when the recordings were published.

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covidwoodwardpublic-healthfirst-termpandemic
Updated January 19, 2021 Federal Dismantlement
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity

COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Deliberate Downplaying and Policy Failures Leading to Hundreds of Thousands of Preventable Deaths

Bob Woodward's taped interviews revealed Trump said in February 2020 that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' and 'more deadly than even your strenuous flus' — while publicly calling it 'no worse than the flu' and 'a Democratic hoax.' The administration rejected WHO tests, blocked CDC mask guidance, slow-walked ventilator production, pressured states to reopen prematurely, promoted hydroxychloroquine against scientific evidence, and suggested people inject disinfectant. By Inauguration Day 2021, 400,000 Americans were dead.

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Updated March 26, 2018 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Opioid Crisis: Declared Emergency Without Funding, Commission Recommendations Ignored

The Christie Commission had explicitly recommended declaring a national emergency under the Stafford Act or the Public Health Service Act, which would have freed up billions in emergency funding and allowed waiver of normal bureaucratic requirements. Trump instead declared a 'public health emergency' under a different statute (the Public Health Service Act § 319), which allowed no new money unless Congress appropriated it. Congress had not appropriated it. The declaration was described by public health experts as largely symbolic. Drug overdose deaths continued to rise throughout Trump's term.

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opioidpublic-healthfirst-termemergencydeaths