Trump allows chicken and turkey companies to keep high levels of salmonella

• Trump reversed a regulation requiring that companies who sell chicken and turkey to keep the levels of salmonella bacteria below a certain level in their meats to prevent illnesses commonly known as food poisoning. When the Biden administration proposed the rule, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that salmonella causes 1.35 million infections a year and kills 420 people.

Trump backs Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric and promotion of dangerous alternative treatments.

• By appointing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, Trump enabled the downplaying of the deadly measles outbreak in West Texas, with Kennedy misleading the public and dangerously minimizing the severity of the crisis. Kennedy recommended cod liver oil and Vitamin A, but the only way to prevent the disease is with vaccinations. Kennedy ordered a search for alternative treatments for measles even as the vaccine is 97% effective; his order will further encourage people to avoid getting the vaccine, helping the disease to spread. 

• Two children in West Texas have died as the nation suffers the biggest measles outbreak in years. The number of cases in Texas alone has grown to more than 480 and continues to rise.  Measles has sickened more than 1,000 people in 30 states, according to the C.D.C.

Trump wants to gut NIH, CDC, mental health and substance abuse 

• Trump’s wants to gut major health and disease prevention programs, including the National Institute for Health (NIH) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Trump wants to cut the CDC funding almost in half, eliminating C.D.C. programs devoted to preventing chronic disease and injuries, including gun violence injuries. He wants to slash NIH research on preventing and curing  disease by 40%. He also proposes cutting more than $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which directs funds and support nationwide to address two of the country’s biggest public health crises

Trump Abruptly Cuts Billions From State Health Services

• Trump canceled over $12 billion in federal grants designated for managing infectious diseases, mental health services, and addiction treatment, forcing state health departments into chaos and threatening widespread layoffs.

• Trump put at risk years of progress in combating chronic diseases and the opioid crisis, severely undermining vital public health and addiction programs.

• Trump left critical health projects in limbo, wasting millions of dollars on unfinished work and leaving states without time to adjust or secure alternative funding.

Food Safety Jeopardized by Onslaught of Funding and Staff Cuts

• Trump halted critical food safety efforts, disbanding a vital committee studying bacteria in infant formula and freezing funding for essential food tests, directly jeopardizing public health.

• Trump slashed $34 million from FDA state lab funding, crippling inspections and testing, and severely delaying responses to deadly outbreaks like listeria and lead contamination.

• Trump left food safety inspections and outbreak investigations severely understaffed, drastically increasing the risk of unreported foodborne illnesses and dangerously delayed recalls.

Trump Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics

• Trump gutted funding for essential vaccine and antiviral research jeopardized public health, including critical studies on future pandemic pathogens, under the misguided belief that the Covid-19 pandemic was over.

• Trump caused potentially catastrophic setbacks by terminating promising projects on coronavirus vaccines and antiviral drugs for diseases like Ebola.

• Trump cuts to pandemic preparedness research will leave the nation vulnerable to future health crises, with crucial drugs and vaccines undeveloped and the population unprotected from potential outbreaks.

• Trump blocked $65 million in funding for Alzheimer’s disease research at 14 research institutions across the country. HHS canceled key grants and contracts that help combat diseases such as diabetes and dementia, as well as cutting obesity rates, including The Diabetes Prevention Program, which assisted doctors in understanding the disease, which was the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2021.

• Trump blocked planning for next year’s flu vaccine, blocking the committee of scientists  from meeting to start preparing for new strains of flu. 

• Trump’s HHS Secretary ordered The National Institutes of Health to halt funding for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find ways to overcome it.

• Trump eliminated the jobs of  researchers studying how well IVF works after calling himself “the fertilization president.”

Trump Poses Serious Rick to Animal Welfare and Public Health

• Trump endorses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s suggestion to allow bird flu to spread through poultry flocks. The endorsement was widely condemned by experts as reckless, posing serious risks to both animal welfare and public health.

• Trump's support for unchecked virus spread increased the risk of mutation, potentially making it more dangerous, while also triggering trade embargoes that would harm the economy and further threaten public health.

Trump Ends Vaccine Funds for Poor Countries

• Trump terminated major U.S. foreign aid programs, including crucial funding for Gavi, directly threatens global health progress and sabotages vaccination initiatives that have saved millions of lives, putting countless more at immediate risk.

• Trump slashed U.S. funding for Gavi, the Trump administration setting the stage for 75 million children to be denied essential vaccinations over the next five years. This  will result in an estimated 1.2 million preventable deaths and devastate global health security.

• Trump crippled U.S.A.I.D. operations, leaving it severely underfunded and understaffed. This destructive move has already led to the cancellation of over 5,300 critical foreign aid projects and the dismissal of nearly 4,000 personnel, jeopardizing vital health services in countries fighting against malaria and HIV.