A heated exchange on CNN ended with a public health activist shutting down conservative commentator Ben Ferguson, telling him flatly that he was “loud and wrong.”
Dr. Chris T. Pernell, director of the NAACP’s Center for Health Equity, appeared on NewsNight with Abby Phillip to weigh in on Florida’s decision to end vaccine mandates for young children. Pernell called the move “reckless” and warned it would heighten exposure to illnesses among children in low-income households.
Ferguson, a GOP podcaster and radio host, pushed back. “If you want to blame somebody for this, blame the CDC!” he said, arguing that the agency had lost the trust of Americans and therefore mandates should be scrapped.
“You’re loud and wrong!” Pernell shot back. “Let’s talk about political actors who started to spew misinformation and disinformation, which has led to confusion, which has led to chaos, and has led to an unnecessary loss of life.”
“Do you know why we were able to save the lives that we did?” she continued. “Because public health physicians, and the CDC…”
Ferguson interrupted, insisting Americans should “be angry” with the science behind the COVID-19 vaccines because they were misled.
“See, that’s what’s wrong,” Pernell responded. “Be angry with the science? Why?”
The exchange recalled broader battles over vaccine trust in the Trump era. During Donald Trump’s first administration, Operation Warp Speed helped speed the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, but the White House also frequently clashed with health experts over messaging, fueling skepticism in the MAGA base. Trump later said the shots saved “tens of millions of lives,” though he has been booed at his own rallies for touting them.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made opposition to vaccines central to his political identity, repeatedly questioning their safety.
Despite assuring during his confirmation hearing in January that “I support the childhood schedule” and insisting that he would “support vaccines,” his public record tells a different story.
Earlier this week, nine former leaders of the CDC—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—published an open letter in the New York Times that criticized RFK Jr’s policies, including restricting vaccines.
The letter was titled: “We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health.”
It also lambasted his decision to remove Dr Susan Monarez as CDC director, a move that led to a wave of walk-outs by senior staff. Kennedy responded by saying the CDC had strayed from its “core mission.”
Democrats have slammed Kennedy’s agenda. Raphael Warnock(D-GA) called it “extremist” and “anti-science,” while Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) accused him of “stupidity on steroids” in “getting rid of vaccines, getting rid of science.”
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