There was a time when I thought that the United States public health infrastructure was one of the keys to America's success as a nation.

America has been, over the past century, a shining example of a resilient society. It's not that bad things don't happen here; they happen everywhere. But here in the US, we can mobilize resources to deal with emergencies better than most countries. 

But, as has happened to all our institutions, public health officials are simply one more part of the Establishment blob that has metastasized into a cancerous growth on the body politic. 

Jay Varma is a metaphor for public healthhttps://t.co/NgJJHgjYe1

— Vinay Prasad MD MPH (@VPrasadMDMPH) September 24, 2024

There is hardly an institution in our society that isn't fundamentally corrupt and self-dealing, and public health has proven to be no exception. As Dr. Vinay Prasad lays out in this article Varma is not the exception, but is now the rule. 

Varma, you may recall, was caught on camera bragging about violating his own COVID-19 policies he forced on New Yorkers. And, not that it is 100% relevant to the story, but he did so by throwing drug-fueled orgies, which in themselves are not exactly the most health-friendly way to blow off steam. No doubt he would tell others to "just say no" to drugs, but also sternly warn people not to engage in risky sexual practices. 

Jay Varma is not alone in making recommendations which he himself disobeyed. Gavin Newson was caught at the French Laundry restaurant. Nancy Pelosi got her hair done (against rules). Deb Brix had a thanksgiving with her family. Gretchen Whitmer went to Florida. Varma had sex parties, while poor, struggling NY City children were kept out of school.

Public health officials and government leaders who pushed pandemic restrictions repeatedly flaunted those rules because public health came to mean something sinister during the pandemic.

Pre-pandemic, when I attended Johns Hopkins School of Public Health— we were taught that public health was based on empowerment. When people faced tough situations you provided resources so they could make better choices.

However Fauci and Brix, learning from China, decided Public Health meant you could use the police state— cops in riot gear— to force people to comply with orders that you dreamt up— which had bioplausibility but no actual evidence. You could arrest someone for not wearing a mask. Chain playgrounds. Lock up beaches. Force people to mask outside. Fire someone for not getting a vaccine. You could throw a mother off an airplane because her toddler didn’t wear a worthless cloth mask. (A CDC recommendation/ mandated in head start).

Prasad argues, with more than enough evidence, that Varma isn't a one-off. Not only did we see politicians violate the rules they were imposing on others and bureaucrats brag about locking down people they dislike in horrible quarantine conditions, but they also used the public health emergency to seize power and rake in the money. They participated in and indeed enabled the largest wealth transfer from the bottom to the top in human history, all while endangering ordinary people. 

Public health became a tool of oppression. This change was led by the left-leaning officials and not the right. Republican governors tended to do better on pandemic policies— in part because of their philosophical distrust of government intrusion. Left leaning politicians were happy to be hypocrites. AOC vacationed in Florida during the pandemic because Florida was the place to be.

Closing thoughts

It is bad that Jay Varma and his wife, a pediatrician, went to sex parties while the AAP forced toddlers to mask and Varma enforced lockdowns and unethical vaccine mandates. But it is much worse that public health officials broadly pushed policies that they themselves did not believe in— policies they felt did not apply to elites like them. Newsom’s kids went to private school, while poor kids in California lost grade levels. And all for a virus that all kids got anyway. A virus that is no big deal for healthy kids— with an IFR less than seasonal influenza. What we did during the pandemic to young and healthy people was mass delusion, and it was led by incompetent, hypocritical public health officials. 

Public health failed us. If you think they deserve a second chance you are wrong. The CDC has 40,000 employees, and not a single one publicly opposed masking 2 year olds with cloth mask. None wrote op-eds. All were silent.

If I ran things, I would start by firing some people. And not just those named Varma.

The hypocrisy is enraging, but the corruption is what endangers our society. Hypocrisy doesn't ruin societies, but tyrants imposing oppressive rules and getting away with it is a sure sign of societal decline. 

My wife and I were discussing getting our annual flu shots--we haven't done so since the COVID-19 vaccine came out--and both decided to once again skip it. 

You know why: we simply don't trust the people who are supposed to help us look out for our health. They are a bunch of liars, and that endangers the country as well as our freedoms.