To the editor:

The HHS secretary is in charge of our nation’s health care, managing Medicaid and Medicare policies, overseeing the CDC, FDA and National Institutes of Health, and is in charge of preparing for and responding to public health and medical emergencies, like pandemics. It’s a serious job that requires someone with serious experience to hold it. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has neither!

Not only is RFK Jr. wholly unqualified, he has a well-documented history of embracing quack science, spreading dangerous disinformation on vaccines, asserting conspiracy theories as facts and ignoring overwhelming scientific evidence.

RFK Jr. is out of step with reality, and if he’s charged with safeguarding our nation’s health, it could mean a matter of life or death for countless Americans.

I personally suffer from a rare parasitic brain infection called toxoplasmosis gandii that I got from a stray cat. All my treatments and surgery were from research developed in other countries. My neurosurgeon was from Austria and worked at KU Med; her technique came from Israel and India. Thanks to the World Health Organization, I was able to obtain treatment; without it I would be dead. RFK Jr., I do not listen to conspiracy theories and actually understand that science is important to the lives of everyone on this planet, not just the wealthy and powerful. RFK Jr. is not fit to hold office, especially one that concerns the health of Americans. He is putting our lives in jeopardy. We cannot, and I will not, give up this fight.

Barbara Guster,

Lawrence