"This first bit from Paul Krugman tees up what he calls, sweetly, the "quackistocracy." Last week the Food and Drug Administration refused to review Moderna's new mRNA-based flu vaccine. They didn't reject it based on evidence; they wouldn't even look at it, in line with RFK Jr.'s evidence-free, dogmatic assertion that mRNA technology, which gave us Covid vaccines, is useless and harmful. Pharmaceutical companies, understandably, are retreating from vaccine development."
"The motivations behind the crusade against clean energy and the crusade against vaccines are also similar. The conspiracy-theorizing hostility to science and expertise in general that underpins both movements also predisposes people to become right-wing extremists, which means that their movements are now in power. The headline on a 2023 article in The Guardian captured this perfectly: " 'Everything you've been told is a lie': Inside the wellness-to-fascism pipeline.""
The Food and Drug Administration declined to review Moderna's mRNA-based flu vaccine, reflecting regulatory reluctance amid assertions that mRNA technology is useless and harmful. Pharmaceutical companies are retreating from vaccine development in response to regulatory inertia and pervasive anti-vaccine rhetoric. Conspiracy-driven hostility to science underpins movements opposing both clean energy and vaccination and helps drive people toward right-wing extremism. The current administration functions as a kakistocracy in which individuals who profited from medical misinformation now occupy policymaking roles overseeing health programs. Public figures from varied backgrounds are increasingly shaping policy through these dynamics.
Read at Esquire
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