We rely on doctors and health care workers to keep us safe and give us the best recommendations possible. But what if those professionals have important tools and access to research taken away from them to make those potentially life-saving recommendations?
That’s how some health care providers felt when data on sexual health, HIV care, LGBTQ+ health, and adolescent health resources were purged from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, leaving doctors wondering where they could turn for reliable, fact-based guidelines to share with their patients.
Some of the pages on the CDC's website that went offline have since reappeared. But uncertainty remains in the medical community regarding what information may not have returned — and who is making the decisions at the agency.
Then there’s the recent confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the new head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, a vocal skeptic of vaccines, has many in the medical community worried about the U.S. vaccine infrastructure — a proven system that has kept children safe from chronic illnesses.
Questions are also swirling around federal funding for medical research and staffing. So on the next Charlotte Talks, we take a look at how the decisions could impact us on a local level.
GUESTS:
Nicholas Florko, staff writer at The Atlantic
Dr. Amelia Sutton, Charlotte-area OB-GYN
Dr. Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County public health director
