Meidas Helps Nurses Push Back on RFK Jr.’s Nomination

Written by Justin Gill

Greetings, Meidas Mighty! I am Justin Gill, an urgent care nurse practitioner from Seattle, WA, and a member of the Core Leadership Team for Nurses for America (NFA).

Many of you may remember reading my post in December for Meidas Touch, shortly after Donald Trump announced Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr.’s (RFK Jr.) nomination for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary. At that time, Ben Meiselas invited me to talk about why NFA opposed RFK Jr.’s nomination because of the harm he would bring to our healthcare system. We asked readers and subscribers to sign on to our statement opposing RFK Jr.’s nomination, and we were surprised to see our statement signature numbers triple from 1000 to 3000 within 24 hours! The momentum has continued to over 4500 signatures as of today.

After a surge in signatures from Meidas Mighty followers, we gained significant traction in getting the attention of local media outlets and lawmakers and saw a spike in followers on social media. We also saw a separate coalition of state nurses’ associations representing over 50,000 members jointly issue a press release highlighting their concerns about HHS nominations. The voice and visibility of nursing against RFK Jr. increased significantly, and NFA found itself better positioned to speak to a broader audience. THANK YOU all for your support and partnership!

With this momentum, nurses including Dr. Erin Hartnett (NFA’s Founder), Dr. Laura Anderko, Teri Mills, Pat O’Connor, Pam Barnes, and Dr. Adrienne Wald attended RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearings in the Senate Finance Committee and Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee. In the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) entered NFA’s statement opposing RFK Jr.’s nomination into the record and recognized his constituent Teri Mills, who submitted the statement. NFA members were noticed by the New York Times in the hearing room for their “Say No to Measles, Reject RFK Jr.” stickers

These are just a few of the many concerning observations from RFK Jr.’s hearing:

• RFK Jr. confirmed that he “probably” did say that Lyme disease was "highly likely a militarily engineered bioweapon."

• When asked, “We should not be giving black people the same vaccine schedule given to whites…” he cited a Polish study indicating that black people needed “fewer antigens” as compared to white people.

• When questioned by Senator Patty Murray of Washington, he failed to disavow his blatantly false past statements on the HPV vaccine.

• RFK Jr. pivoted and failed to answer the question from Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on whether he would stop indicating that vaccines cause autism.

How You Can Help Us in Stopping RFK

RFK Jr.’s responses during the hearing did not clarify senators' concerns on both sides of the aisle.

Now that the hearings have concluded, I ask all of you to help us by contacting your United States Senators and asking them to OPPOSE RFK Jr.’s nomination. We invite you to sign on to our statement if you haven’t already, or share it with your family and friends. As the most trusted profession for 23 years in a row, nurses have a reputation as staunch advocates for our patients. We ask you to support us by speaking up and doing whatever you can to stop his dangerous nomination.

Thank you to the Meidas Mighty and MeidasTouch for elevating nursing voices on this platform. By joining forces and speaking out, we can make a difference to protect the health of this nation.

Justin Gill, DNP, APRN, RN is an urgent care nurse practitioner and a member of the Core Leadership Team at Nurses for America.