Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. renewed this week a public health emergency declaration to address the national opioid crisis. The emergency declaration will be renewed for 90 days and will allow the HHS to leverage expanded authorities in devoting resources to address the opioid overdose crisis.
The news comes amid a significant decline in drug overdose deaths since the summer of 2023. In fact, for the first time since 2018, drug overdose deaths began to decline in 2023, and provisional data from the CDC show further declines in 2024. Deaths linked specifically to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, have decreased by 30%, and 30,000 fewer people are dying each year from street drugs compared to peak times in June of 2023, according to NPR.
The data surrounding fentanyl is reassuring since the vast majority of opioid deaths recorded in 2022 were due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Nearly 90% of opioid overdose deaths were attributed to synthetic opioids in America, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Ironically, the Trump administration could undo the significant progress made with the opioid crisis through many of the unintended consequences of Trump’s agenda in cutting federal spending and increasing government efficiency. Funding for Medicaid is at risk as Congressional Republicans seek to find ways to potentially cut trillions of dollars from the largest health insurance program in America. If enacted, millions of Americans could be dropped from Medicaid, the single largest payer of opioid use disorder services.
States that have expanded Medicaid eligibility have shown evidence of decreased opioid overdose deaths. Without adequate Medicaid funding, opioid overdose deaths could increase again for the first time since 2023, which would result in a real emergency for the American public.
Although the opioid epidemic in America has posed a real and significant public health threat resulting in at least 645,000 deaths since the epidemic began, major progress has been made with significantly less deaths directly attributed to fentanyl.
A real public health emergency that should be declared centers around the current epidemic of misinformation that has been plaguing America. The current measles outbreak in the United States has claimed more than 300 lives, and at least one death and potentially two. If not contained, public health experts fear thousands of individuals could get infected as the virus spreads.
Despite the spread of measles that has been linked to declining vaccination rates in the United States, Secretary Kennedy continues to spread misinformation about vaccines and their efficacy. In a recent op-ed for Fox news, he states, “Good nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses.” His op-ed, which provides guidance on navigating the measles outbreak in Texas, fails to assert that vaccines, not nutrition, provide the best defense against measles.
This type of misinformation will not curb or mitigate the spread of measles. The public needs to hear and understand from the Secretary of HHS that vaccines provide the best protection against the virus; and without adequate vaccination rates, the virus will continue to spread. A single dose of the MMR vaccine provides 93% protection against measles, and two doses give 97% defense.
We must all ask ourselves what is the real public health emergency emerging- the opioid epidemic that has finally seen a significant decline in overdose deaths, or the threat of misinformation and its consequences that are only starting to be realized?
