U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced last week a major change to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedule as related to the Covid vaccine:
Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from @CDCgov recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/Ytch2afCLP
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) May 27, 2025
The phrases "common sense" and "good science" are refreshing. But for your humble correspondent, they brought to mind the dark times through which a federal government mad with power dragged the republic just a few years ago.
That was a time when "recommendation" became "mandate," and woe unto those who had legitimate questions and hesitations about the efficacy of such vaccinations and did not immediately and thoughtlessly comply.
While federal employees and members of the military were subject to the mandate that came in the form of a September 9, 2021 Executive Order from then-President Joe Biden, so too were individuals who had only a tangential connection to the federal government -- employees of firms who had lucrative contracts with the feds.
The choice for millions of purportedly free citizens? The jab or your job.
Medical exemptions were out the window, as many doctors were actively pushing the vaccine and not listening to the valid concerns of their patients -- no matter their health status. Critical thinking had vanished and the narrative had taken over.
Seemingly the only option left was to apply for a religious exemption. HR departments set up what amounted to star chambers, in which a random panel would "review" religious exemption requests.
This despite the fact that such panelists had no more idea of an employee's beliefs than did a squirrel, and that sincerely held religious beliefs and values were and are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
But what's an act of Congress when it comes to a big contract with the feds and the chance to perhaps unload salary and benefits?
Yes, the Supreme Court stepped in to stop the madness, but that is beside the point. Countless Americans submitted beforehand, in fear of their ability to put bread on the table being severely jeopardized. It never should have come to that in the United States of America.
We should also never fail to remember that such a wild exercise of power was not limited to the federal government nor a particular political party.
To cite just one horrific example, Massachusetts State Troopers who refused to play Russian Roulette with their health and declined the jab were ordered to be removed from their posts from the Republican governor at the time, Charlie Baker.
Not only were the troopers to be removed, but a public demonstration of the iron fist accompanied the terminations.
The scenario usually played out this way: two State Police troopers or representatives would arrive at the private residences of fellow troopers who had made the agonizing choice between their livelihood and the natural right to determine their own medical care.
The non-compliers were read a script and ordered to surrender their cruisers, equipment, and badges on the spot.
Their families and neighbors looked on, often in tears or silent rage at a humiliating and debased spectacle more apt for East Germany than the United States.
The badges surrendered were worn by individuals who not long before were lauded as heroes, essential, on the frontlines. Their "vaccination status" was of no consequence and undoubtedly the farthest thing from the minds of citizens who sought their immediate assistance.
The badges were worn by individuals for whom danger and uncertainty were a part of the job, bravely entering situations into which there was the possibility of no return.
Those individuals were transformed into undesirables, suddenly and imperceptibly a danger to the citizens they served and protected.
Many healthy troopers who took the jab out of necessity (and after being denied medical or religious exemptions) had adverse reactions, and their health and well-being were forever compromised.
Outrageous is too mild a word to describe the situation that Baker -- sheepishly following the lead of the federal government -- created. He embodied Lord Acton's warning that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Government overreach is always dangerous, but particularly so when it comes at the point of a syringe and on pain of losing your livelihood.
Kennedy was at the forefront of criticizing and exposing many of the main perpetrators of the federal mandates and edicts. The changes that he and the Trump administration are making to HHS and CDC are important and significant in the work to not only Make America Healthy Again, but to make America free again.
But it's up to all of us to see that the spectacle of corporations setting up panels to judge the personal medical decisions of employees because they are afraid of losing federal contracts, and governors publicly humiliating law enforcement officers unwilling to submit to what proved to be a dangerous experiment never happens again.
With an Article V convention, we can ensure that the unfettered power of the federal government that can -- and has -- ruined lives is permanently prohibited. Sign the petition below to join the movement:
