Editor:
Dear community members, I have been a pediatrician in this community for over 30 years but no matter which political party was in charge, I have never seen the federal government actively trying to destroy our medical system (“Feds Impact in Humboldt,” May 29). The actions taken by this administration are unconscionable. Our ability as physicians to care for patients is being eroded and undermined. We are being denied access to medical expertise, accurate informational sources and up to date information. Scientific projects that contribute to the development of new, improved therapies for diseases are being defunded and shuttered.
Funds that support our medical infrastructure are being cut. Scientific resources that we rely on to give you the best and most up to date advice are being shut down and/or corrupted.
Lies are being spread about basic medical treatment like vaccines — and not just by extreme voices on the internet, but by our own government.
As a physician, it feels as though the rug is being pulled out from under our feet. Today all 17 experts were removed from the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). These physicians and scientists are the best, most knowledgeable experts we have, and sending them all packing will seriously harm our ability to give patients and families valid and unbiased information.
Do you really want the scarce healthcare we have here in this rural area corrupted and destroyed? Because that is what is going right now under our noses. Funds for medical care are being cut, our institutional knowledge base is being corrupted, and the best and brightest physicians and scientists are being shunned, rejected and fired.
We have some of the best medicine in the world, with intelligent, motived scientists and physicians. Why is it being destroyed? What kind of country does these things? What has happened to us? I urge you to stand up for healthcare, medicine and science, locally and nationally.
Emily Dalton, Eureka
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Feds Impact in Humboldt
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Seeing an entire group of alleged medical experts transferred or dismissed is indeed alarming, but one has to ask whether it was a best medical practice under the prior administration to stop C-19 testing, or to approve not requiring N95 masking in medical facilities, or to even invest money in the Wuhan virology lab to do things not legal to do in the US (like virus gain-of-function research) and then cover it up. This brings into question the objectivity of the so called best of the best.