1. United States
2. Iowa
3. Letter

I am writing to express my serious concern about the direction of federal public-health policy, particularly the decisions being made regarding vaccines and food safety. I believe Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fundamentally unqualified to make medical and scientific decisions affecting the health of hundreds of millions of Americans. This isn't a criticism based simply on political disagreement. It is based on his long history of promoting vaccine skepticism and claims that have been rejected by the overwhelming body of scientific evidence. The consequences of allowing vaccine policy to be driven by ideology rather than epidemiology are already becoming visible. Consider measles. The United States officially eliminated endemic measles transmission in 2000. Before widespread vaccination, measles infected millions of Americans and caused hundreds of deaths every year. After the vaccine was introduced in 1963, measles incidence dropped by more than 95%. Yet we are now watching a disease that had been effectively eliminated return in substantial numbers. As of August 14, 2026, the CDC had recorded 2,566 confirmed measles cases nationwide—the highest annual total in more than 35 years. And this isn't some problem happening somewhere else. Iowa had only one identified measles case for 2026 until July. Then, in the span of a few weeks, an outbreak in southern Iowa grew to 12 confirmed cases by August 16, with state health officials reporting evidence of person-to-person transmission. Iowa had nine cases during all of 2025. This is exactly what vaccination is supposed to prevent. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are approximately 97% effective at preventing measles. The disease itself is extraordinarily contagious, and measles can cause pneumonia, encephalitis, permanent complications and death. The CDC estimates that approximately one to three out of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory or neurologic complications. We shouldn't be experimenting with a public-health success story that took generations to achieve. I am equally concerned about the administration's approach to food safety. Americans are being told that government regulation is burdensome and that agencies should be reduced, yet we have recently experienced multiple major foodborne-illness outbreaks. In July, federal investigators linked a multistate Cyclospora outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico. Taylor Farms voluntarily removed iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market, and the CDC and FDA continue to investigate the outbreak. We have also recently seen a multistate Salmonella outbreak involving jalapeños, with 345 illnesses across 27 states and 36 hospitalizations. Taylor Farms and Whole Foods were among the companies involved in recalls or removal of products containing the potentially contaminated peppers. And this isn't limited to one company or one pathogen. Recent food-safety problems have also included a Salmonella outbreak associated with eggs that sickened 98 people and resulted in 26 hospitalizations across 17 states. These examples demonstrate why we need more effective food-safety oversight, not less. There is an important distinction here: I am not arguing that government agencies are incapable of making mistakes. They absolutely can. In fact, the FDA itself had to retract an initial positive test involving Taylor Farms lettuce after determining that the result was a false positive. But the broader epidemiological investigation continued to point investigators toward the same supplier. That is precisely why we need trained scientists, epidemiologists, laboratory personnel, inspectors and public-health professionals who can evaluate conflicting evidence and respond appropriately. That brings me back to Mr. Kennedy. Public-health policy should not be determined by whoever has the strongest political following or the loudest opinions about vaccines. It should be determined by people with demonstrated expertise in epidemiology, infectious disease, immunology, medicine, food safety and public health—and it should be based on reproducible scientific evidence. I am asking you to support policies that preserve strong vaccination recommendations, maintain access to proven vaccines, protect the independence of scientific agencies, and ensure that the FDA, CDC and other public-health institutions have the personnel and resources necessary to protect Americans. Children shouldn't have to contract a preventable disease before Washington decides that vaccination was a good idea. And Americans shouldn't have to become seriously ill from contaminated food before we decide that inspecting the food supply and maintaining an effective regulatory system are worth the investment. Please put science and public safety ahead of political ideology when making these decisions.