There’s a reason you rarely hear about people catching polio—let alone dying from the highly infectious disease—particularly in the U.S. And if you’re under the age of 70, you’ve likely never had to live in fear of acquiring it yourself. The polio vaccine has all but obliterated the illness that once killed thousands and paralyzed 15,000 people nationwide every year.
The above statistic hails from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency President-elect Donald Trump has chosen outspoken vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run. When the once and future commander-in-chief announced his HHS pick on X on Nov. 14, he wrote, “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration,” and that Kennedy would help “end the Chronic Disease epidemic.” Trump also said public health has suffered from the “deception, misinformation, and disinformation” of pharmaceutical companies.
