{"id":853429,"date":"2025-06-04T22:13:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T03:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/kennedy-has-taken-a-sledgehammer-to-the-uss-public-health\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T22:13:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T03:13:19","slug":"kennedy-has-taken-a-sledgehammer-to-the-uss-public-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/kennedy-has-taken-a-sledgehammer-to-the-uss-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy has taken a sledgehammer to the US&#8217;s public health"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section data-barrier=\"Subscription\">\n<figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"1350\" height=\"902\" src=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/03220802\/SEI_246168722.jpg\"   loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-image-context=\"Article\" data-image-id=\"2475104\" data-caption=\"US Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\" data-credit=\"Niall Carson\/PA\/Alamy\"><\/p><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>US Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Niall Carson\/PA\/Alamy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is a dangerous moment for public health in America. On 1 April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who heads the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), began overseeing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c209j2j4nxlo\">sweeping layoffs<\/a> of an estimated 10,000 people at the agency. The cuts are not just wide but deep \u2013 they <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2474698-us-government-fired-researchers-running-a-crucial-drug-use-survey\/\">jeopardise studies that have been running for decades<\/a> and threaten laboratories that are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchprofessionalnews.com\/rr-news-world-2025-4-global-aid-cuts-raise-polio-resurgence-fears\/\">key to fighting polio<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2469470-us-stops-sharing-flu-data-with-who-amidst-one-of-its-worst-flu-seasons\/\">influenza<\/a> both within the US and around the world.<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<div data-js-sidebar-newsletter-sign-up>\n<header>\n<h2>Sign up to our weekly newsletter<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<p>Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox!<br \/>\n            We&#8217;ll also keep you up to date with <em>New Scientist<\/em><br \/>\n            events and special offers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/sign-up\/weekly\">Sign up<\/a>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> Maribel Kucera <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2475101-kennedy-has-taken-a-sledgehammer-to-the-uss-public-health\/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&#038;utm_source=NSNS&#038;utm_medium=RSS&#038;utm_content=home\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Niall Carson\/PA\/Alamy This is a dangerous moment for public health in America. On 1 April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who heads the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), began overseeing sweeping layoffs of an estimated 10,000 people at the agency. The cuts are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22303,35873],"tags":[10287,115681],"class_list":{"0":"post-853429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kennedy","8":"category-sledgehammer","9":"tag-kennedy","10":"tag-sledgehammer"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}