{"id":548,"date":"2024-12-24T18:11:10","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T19:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/?p=548"},"modified":"2024-12-25T17:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T17:20:11","slug":"opinion-polis-gets-so-much-right-about-health-care-reform-but-supporting-rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-crusade-isnt-one-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/24\/opinion-polis-gets-so-much-right-about-health-care-reform-but-supporting-rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-crusade-isnt-one-of-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Polis gets so much right about health care reform, but supporting RFK Jr.\u2019s anti-vaccine crusade isn\u2019t one of them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Jared Polis digitally reached across the aisle last month by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/11\/14\/jared-polis-rfk-jr-trump-hhs-endorsement-tweet\/\">celebrating the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/a> for Health and Human Services Secretary by President-elect Donald Trump. As an advocate who seeks bipartisan paths to advance public health policy, I welcomed the willingness to build a bridge with the incoming administration. However, when you ask Colorado voters of all political stripes, he was building a bridge to a dangerous place.<\/p>\n<p>When the governor posted that RFK Jr. \u201chelped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make Americans healthy again,\u201d it reminded me of the oddest moment I\u2019ve experienced at the Colorado state Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, I was testifying in support of legislation to improve immunization rates among school-aged children. The bill was a modest compromise made with the governor and others, after a version from 2019 that included immunization mandates was defeated at the governor\u2019s behest.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the chamber was swarmed with anti-vaccine activists who had been mobilized by figures including Kennedy. As I stood after finishing my testimony, an unwelcome chin was perched on my right shoulder from behind. It belonged to an opponent of the bill, who whispered in my ear, \u201csweet dreams \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\">\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"\" data-relation-type=\"automatic-primary-tag\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"entry-section\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/opinion\/opinion-columnists\/\">Opinion Columnists | <\/a><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/12\/15\/trump-nominees-polio-vaccine-mitch-mcconnell\/\" title=\"Trump nominees should &#8220;steer clear&#8221; of undermining polio vaccine, McConnell says\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTrump nominees should &#8220;steer clear&#8221; of undermining polio vaccine, McConnell says\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"entry-section\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/opinion\/opinion-columnists\/\">Opinion Columnists | <\/a><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/12\/01\/colorado-long-covid-lilly-downs-tiktok\/\" title=\"A young Coloradan learning to live with long COVID turns to TikTok to educate about chronic illness\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title premium\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tA young Coloradan learning to live with long COVID turns to TikTok to educate about chronic illness\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"entry-section\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/opinion\/opinion-columnists\/\">Opinion Columnists | <\/a><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/11\/23\/colorado-considering-imported-pets-rule-curb-rabies\/\" title=\"Colorado mulls rule that would raise minimum age of imported pets to curb rabies\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tColorado mulls rule that would raise minimum age of imported pets to curb rabies\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"entry-section\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/opinion\/opinion-columnists\/\">Opinion Columnists | <\/a><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/11\/21\/jared-polis-rfk-jr-conspiracy-trump-administration-colorado\/\" title=\"Opinion: Polis may be excited for an RFK Jr. shakeup, but sucking up to this administration won&#8217;t work\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tOpinion: Polis may be excited for an RFK Jr. shakeup, but sucking up to this administration won&#8217;t work\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"entry-section\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/opinion\/opinion-columnists\/\">Opinion Columnists | <\/a><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/11\/14\/jared-polis-rfk-jr-trump-hhs-endorsement-tweet\/\" title=\"Gov. Jared Polis cheers RFK Jr.&#8217;s nomination for health post despite anti-vaccine statements\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tGov. Jared Polis cheers RFK Jr.&#8217;s nomination for health post despite anti-vaccine statements\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>There was nothing problematic about the governor\u2019s description of his successful partnership with Kennedy in defeating our bipartisan bill &#8211; that was accurate. The problem is that many of Kennedy\u2019s views are well outside both the scientific consensus and bipartisan mainstream, and the health of Americans may suffer as a result. In Colorado, that\u2019s already happening.<\/p>\n<p>Child immunization rates in our state are falling, putting kids at needless risk for illnesses that we had nearly driven into oblivion. In the 2022-23 school year, Colorado ranked 45th in the nation in kindergarten coverage rates for measles, at 86.8%, below the 92-94% community immunity threshold.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Coloradans support even stronger action than what\u2019s currently being applied to protect children, as about three-quarters of voters believe that \u201cbefore being able to send their children to schools and childcare centers, parents should be required to have them vaccinated for contagious diseases,\u201d per a survey conducted this month by a bipartisan polling team for the organization I run, Healthier Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>President Eisenhower said, \u201cevery parent and every child should be grateful\u201d when polio was essentially eradicated during his presidency over six decades ago. Now, even that vaccine is under attack by Kennedy, drawing the ire of polio survivor and Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. This adds to a string of dangerous and disproven positions taken by RFK, Jr., including the false linkage between vaccines and autism.<\/p>\n<p>We must not go back to proliferating the diseases of yesteryear, and a bipartisan majority of voters are pointing the way forward on health issues at the state and federal level.<\/p>\n<p>Here in Colorado, we have experienced the nation\u2019s largest net decline in Medicaid enrollment since the pandemic, with more than half of that decline resulting from state bureaucratic failings. People who qualify for Medicaid are being excluded from coverage, leaving them without access to health care, and putting health providers into a financial bind with an increase in uninsured patients. Fortunately, 78% of Colorado voters, including over 68% of Republicans, are in favor of investing taxpayer dollars to fix this problem.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado can benefit from a strong working relationship with the Trump administration in selected areas, and Governor Polis is wise to pursue one. However, Coloradans reject Kennedy\u2019s fringe views on vaccines, and a plurality believes that \u201cdoctors and scientists\u201d have \u201ctoo little\u201d influence over public health policy. This isn\u2019t an elitist view, it\u2019s common sense \u2013 only 28% percent of Coloradans with a high school education or less think that doctors and scientists have \u201ctoo much\u201d influence.<\/p>\n<p>Poll after poll shows that Polis is on the right track with his successful effort to save people money on health care. Moreover, this month\u2019s poll showed alignment with the sentiment expressed by the governor and Kennedy about the influence of the pharmaceutical and processed foods industries, as about 7 in 10 Colorado voters agree. On these and other issues, we can take a pragmatic approach that moves us forward, not backward, so we can improve people\u2019s well-being and save lives.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jake Williams is the CEO of Healthier Colorado, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the voices of Coloradans in the public policy process to improve the health of our state\u2019s residents.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.denverpost.com\/dp\/preference\">Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/submit-letter\/\">online<\/a> or check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2013\/07\/09\/submission-guidelines-and-contact-information\/\">guidelines<\/a> for how to submit by email or mail.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Jared Polis digitally reached across the aisle last month by celebrating the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Health and Human Services Secretary by&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":549,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions\/549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macroron.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}