Making the Case: May 8, 2026

Under Trump, Americans are less healthy and less safe.

THE CASE

President Trump campaigned on making the country “healthy and safe” again, but his administration is doing the opposite. The Trump administration’s public health strategy seems to be: ignore established science, reject the facts, and suppress any information that doesn’t fit their narrative. If you get rid of health and food inspectors, and cancel the studies that measure hunger, then it’s easy to claim that our food is safe and everyone has enough. However, Americans know that we’re all safer when food inspectors can do their jobs, when health inspectors can ensure cruise ships are free of illness, when science drives vaccine recommendations, and when public health systems are well funded.

KEY FACTS AND DATA

• MAHA means… cutting food safety and health inspectors?

  • A year ago, the Trump administration fired nearly all full-time staff at the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program, which was responsible for ensuring cruise ships and other vessels are safe and clean. A self-induced blow to public health expertise like that makes the recent Hantavirus outbreak even more of a threat to Americans. [Futurism]

    • President Trump, asked about the hantavirus outbreak and if Americans should be concerned it’s going to spread, said “I hope not. We’ll do the best we can.” [Aaron Rupar]

  • Inspections of foreign food production facilities hit historic lows last year, thanks to deep cuts the Trump administration made to the FDA. This affects the safety of foods Americans eat, from seafood to cookies. [ProPublica]

    • Staffing cuts and retirement incentives have made it hard for food safety inspectors to cover even small percentages of the food we eat. [NPR]

  • Last year, the USDA scrapped rules that would have allowed the agency to prevent chicken infected from salmonella from reaching consumers. [Civil Eats]

• Misleading vaccine guidance and disinformation is killing children.

  • Staffing cuts, vaccine skepticism reaching places of power, and funding cuts to essential public health programs have all contributed to the measles outbreaks spreading across the country over the last year. [Kaiser Family Foundation]

    • It’s likely the U.S. will lose its status as having eliminated measles—a feat only accomplished in 2000 after a multi-year effort. [The Lancet]

  • Food and Drug Administration officials blocked the release of several studies that show the safety of Covid and shingles vaccines. The studies—which were already finished and accepted for publication—cost millions of dollars in public funds. [New York Times]

    • The study showed that the Covid vaccine “reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half this past winter.” [Washington Post]

    • Shingles cases have been rising, even in younger adults. [Health Central]

  • Late last year, the CDC changed its website to contradict the scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism. [PBS]

  • The CDC also rolled back a decadeslong recommendation for newborns to receive the first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. It helps protect at-risk babies from an incurable, dangerous infection. [NBC News]

  • Another recommended shot for newborns is a quick dose of Vitamin K, but amid broader skepticism about vaccines and interventions, families across the country are declining to give it to their babies. More and more newborns are suffering the horrifying consequences of vitamin K deficiency, with some bleeding to death. [ProPublica]

  • Last year, the CDC canceled a contract with mRNA vaccine makers to develop vaccines to protect people against the bird flu virus. [NPR]

• Trump and his allies in Congress impose health and food security cuts, and shut down the monitors and studies that show the consequences of their actions.

  • Last year, the USDA cancelled the Household Food Security Report because the Trump administration thought it was costly and redundant. This happened months after congressional Republicans passed devastating cuts to SNAP food assistance programs. [NPR]

  • The Trump administration has taken the side of pesticide producers like Bayer (formerly Monsanto) that make glyphosate, something that Trump’s MAHA base has criticized. [NPR]

  • State public health agencies are struggling to spot disease outbreaks due to funding cuts and the Trump administration’s decision to exit the World Health Organization, which had been a source of data experts could once rely on. States are having to cobble together their own monitoring networks without the historic partnership at the federal level. [Scientific American]

CALL TO ACTION

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