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Dr. Pan Says RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine, Healthcare Stances Led to His Congressional Campaign
Dr. Richard Pan, a former California state legislator, announced his campaign on Tuesday for a Republican-controlled congressional district that could be redrawn to favor democrats if Proposition 50 is approved by voters. Pan, who served in the state Assembly and later Senate from 2010 to 2022, sat down with Inside California Politics host Nikki Laurenzo on Thursday to discuss a number of issues, including what made him want to run for Congress.
“I decided I wanted to run several weeks ago when RFK Jr. came before the Senate Finance Committee to do his hearing,” Pan said. “I was getting so many calls from people, including reporters, saying basically what’s happening at the federal government — they’re taking apart everything you worked on, that people worked on here in California.”
Pan’s spent much of his time in the legislature focused on medical issues. Among his most notable achievements was the passage of Senate Bill 277 (2015), which eliminated personal belief exemptions for existing school-required vaccines.
Lee County School Board Backs Ending Student Vaccine Mandates, Citing Parental Rights
The Lee County School Board formally aligned itself with a statewide push to end student vaccine requirements Oct. 7, approving a resolution that urges lawmakers to eliminate all vaccination mandates for Florida’s public and private school students.
Board Member Armor Persons proposed the resolution, which asserts that parents, not government agencies, should decide whether their children receive vaccines.
He cited Florida’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, which protects parents’ authority over their children’s health care and education.
Can Trump’s Surgeon General Pick Convince the Country That RFK Jr. Is Making America Healthy Again?
A series of tumultuous health policy changes seem to have shaken faith in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s quest to tackle chronic disease and question science. Fifty-nine percent of Americans now disapprove of the U.S. Health Secretary’s performance, according to a KFF poll released last week.
And six surgeons general from Democratic and Republican administrations, including President Donald Trump’s first term, say he is “endangering the health of the nation.” Jerome Adams, Trump’s surgeon general from his first term, even said he should be fired. Dr. Casey Means, Trump’s nominee for the post, would play a key role in trying to convince Americans that Kennedy is, in fact, “Making America Healthy Again.”
Young, Stanford-educated and a medical doctor, Means is well-connected to the MAHA movement as the author of a best-selling book, “Good Energy,” a wellness entrepreneur and a close Kennedy ally. She has also questioned established science, but casts that stance as one of empowerment — telling people they should take charge of their own health and push for answers.
And the 38-year-old Means has important backers. Besides Kennedy, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and his wife Katie Miller, a former Trump spokesperson turned podcaster, are early allies in the second administration.
AMA President Deflects Criticism of Organization’s Restrained Approach to the Trump Administration
American Medical Association (AMA) President Bobby Mukkamala defended the restrained advocacy strategy that the country’s largest professional medical organization has taken with the Trump administration, while playing up the alignment between federal health officials and the AMA on issues like prior authorization, as part of a Thursday conversation at the STAT Summit.
Mukkamala acknowledged that certain decisions made by the Trump administration — including alterations to the childhood vaccine schedule and the potential overhaul of a key federal advisory panel on preventive services — could be dangerous for patients. But he also emphasized the importance of trying to maintain a working relationship with the administration.
Abraham’s Flu Shot Fickleness Ignores Louisiana’s Health Care Access Issues
Louisiana Illuminator reported:
Dr. Ralph Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, made it abundantly clear why the state would not promote the flu vaccine or hold events offering it to the public. It’s the second year in a row the health department has opted against such efforts.
Asked by the Illuminator at a news conference earlier this month, Abraham said his agency was “not going to do anything” to make the vaccine available at health fairs or other community events. Until Republican Gov. Jeff Landry took office in January 2024, administrations under both parties historically backed health department outreach to limit the impact of flu season.
The most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 470,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths related to the flu during the 2023-24 season. Abraham said he doesn’t support mass flu vaccine events because they don’t allow for a patient to give “informed consent,” which involves a doctor explaining the pros and cons of a vaccine with the patient before that person decides whether they want to be vaccinated.
Gavin Newsom’s Veto on Bill to Ban PFAS Hands Industry a Win, Advocates Fear
A decision by Gavin Newsom, the California governor, to veto a bill that would have banned the sale of cookware and some other consumer products made with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may reverberate across the U.S. by slowing or killing similar legislation in other states, public health advocates fear.
California is often looked to for guidance by other states considering new environmental rules, and some legislatures, including large states like New York and Illinois, are weighing bans on Pfas in cookware. The veto from Newsom, who is considering running for president, hands the industry a new weapon to use in battles over Pfas in other states, advocates say.
“California’s position as the world’s fourth-largest economy would have created momentum to remove PFAS from these products everywhere,” said Andria Ventura, the legislative director for Clean Water Action, which lobbied for the bill. “Now they’re going to say, ‘Look, California’s governor decided this wasn’t the way to go.’ And that’s a blow.”
