Lawrence Gostin, Director of the World Health Organization’s Center on Global Health Law, cautioned that a second Trump term could be "among the most destructive" for public health. 

“Among the most destructive impacts of a 2nd Trump administration would be to foment distrust in health, medicine & science, ranging from vaccines to water fluoridation. Censoring public health agencies, cherry picking the data, and pumping out false information would cost lives,” Gostin said.

Among the most destructive impacts of a 2nd Trump administration would be to foment distrust in health, medicine & science, ranging from vaccines to water fluoridation

Censoring public health agencies, cherry picking the data, and pumping out false information would cost lives

— Lawrence Gostin (@LawrenceGostin) November 7, 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic is expected to play a significant role in shaping health policies during the second Trump administration.

Kennedy, who ended his presidential bid to endorse Trump, has long criticized the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other public health agencies. In his latest tweet he called on the FDA to end its “war on public health,” accusing the agency of suppressing alternative health treatments such as psychedelics, stem cells, and even vitamins. Kennedy also criticized the FDA’s stance on COVID-19 treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, the drugs that inhibit viral replication. However, a study in PubMed Central has concluded that  “in non-critically ill, hospitalized patients with pneumonia secondary to COVID-19, the use of hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin did not decrease significantly the number of hospitalization days, respiratory deterioration, or deaths.”

“FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can't be patented by Pharma,” Kennedy said.

“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” he added, signaling a potential overhaul of US health policy.

FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything…

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 25, 2024

Trump, for his part, has expressed strong admiration for Kennedy, calling him "a great guy" and expressing his support for Kennedy's unorthodox health ideas. "He’s gonna do pretty much what he wants as far as I’m concerned. He wants health for women, for men, for children. I happen to agree with a lot of the things he says,” Trump said during a recent interview with reporters on Election Day.

In his tweet On November 7 Kennedy said: “President Trump has asked him to do three things: “1. Clean up the corruption in our government health agencies. 2. Return those agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. 3. Make America Healthy Again by ending the chronic disease epidemic.”

Also read: Study: Political polarization a major threat to public health - First Check

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