HEALTH SCIENCE

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made a habit of throwing good money after bad science. Amid the Trump administration’s cuts to research funding and personnel there has been a harmful shift in priorities. Cutting-edge discoveries and clinical investigations—on subjects ranging from mRNA vaccines to diabetes and dementia—are denied crucial resources while junk science and fringe beliefs are elevated without justifiable explanation. Under Kennedy’s leadership, politicization at the NIH, FDA, and CDC is imperiling the future of US science and innovation and throttling the public health enterprise that keeps the country safe today.

The Trump administration's budget cuts to HHS and scientifically unsound revisions to public health policies under the misguided direction of RFK Jr. pose a serious threat to our nation's health and future. Our Health Science Action Team is focused on addressing this threat through advocacy, community engagement, and education. Our current emphasis is on:

Immunization practices.
Cuts to Medicaid & Medicare.
Retaining essential child and maternal health programs.
Supporting ongoing medical research to further scientific inquiry and prevent the loss of our nation’s status as the pre-eminent source of biomedical innovation throughout the world.

For more information or to join our team, contact Laura and Vanessa, co-leads, at wihealthscience@gmail.com.

Our current activities and projects

Increasing public awareness of the impact to our health and health care access under the inept and politicized leadership at HHS through our informational brochure and flyers, which we distribute at rallies. For more information or to print them, see the list below.
Community outreach and public engagement to promote vaccines and address vaccine hesitancy through education and collaboration with the Immunization Action Coalition of Washington.
Supporting Washington Health Trust legislation that would create a public, nonprofit health care system that covers every Washington resident with comprehensive care. Whole Washington, the healthcare advocacy organization that developed the policy, is working to gather 400,000 signatures to get this initiative on the ballot.
- You can sign their online pledge now.
- For more information, see the Washington Health Trust Statewide Action Kit developed by the West Seattle Indivisible Healthcare Team.

Robert F Kennedy Jr: 1 year of failure, Editors, The Lancet, Vol 407, Issue 10531, February 28, 2026.
Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies, New York Times, March 15, 2026.
“Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government had not based its decisions on science in limiting Covid shots and revising the childhood immunization schedule.”

Health Science team brochure and flyers

These documents provide information to both educate yourself about the issues threatening our public health as well as serve as materials ready to print and share with others.

Public Health in Danger (brochure)

A detailed overview of the damage that Trump and RFK Jr. are doing to the agencies that comprise our health care system—from reduced access to health care and decreased vaccine availability to jeopardized biomedical research. Learn how you can take actions to counter these harms. Open tri-fold brochure.

Risks to Public Health (flyer)

A condensed version of the details provided in the Public Health in Danger brochure on how the Trump administration and RFK Jr. have put your health at risk and what you can do about it. Open risks flyer.

Impacts to Health Care Access (flyer)

Summarizes the harmful impact of the “Big Beautiful Bill” on Americans’ access to health care due to the massive cuts made to Medicaid, SNAP, and ACA subsidies. Get pointers on how you can fight back. Open impacts flyer.

How to print

These PDF documents are all double-sided and in color. The brochure is a trifold; the flyers are 3 per page so the printed page must be cut into thirds.

Print them on 28 lb. paper with a laser printer for the most professional results. Although any printer will do, note that an ink-jet printout may run in the rain!