1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

We all know there are going to be a lot of fights ahead of us to protect ourselves and each other from the destruction that the incoming administration is openly promising. The promises to gut and hamstring our healthcare and public health systems are particularly threatening in the midst of ongoing Covid mutation and spread, and the growing concern over avian flu as a threat to humans. RFK Jr. is likely to lead policy based on conspiracy theories and debunked studies (and "studies") that he openly supports. But even if his personal views were not so divorced from empirical reality, the intended plans to tear out support from our healthcare and public health systems amounts to a promise to rip vital support away from citizens, to the point of leaving many in die in tortuous circumstances, and many more to struggle and suffer needlessly. He has no appreciation for how the science of medicine has saved and improved so many lives, even if it is imperfect. His disdain for scientific medicine is also disdain for the realities of people who currently rely on it. He would be a disastrous steward over our systems of healthcare access, and access to important public health information. This is one of the first of many long fights, and we cannot afford to treat this as anything other than a fight for our lives, because for millions of Americans, it absolutely is. I am asking, begging you to come out strongly and without equivocation against the confirmation of RFK Jr. to any department. Do not let this first attempted blow to our lives land without a fight. Please do everything in your power to stop it.