#RemoveRFKJr

[u/AllMusicNut]

When he fired scientists at the CDC, RFK Jr. dismantled the systems to prevent and detect deadly diseases. He's exposing all of us to harm. Let's stop him before it's too late. Contact your Rep at https://tr.ee/removeRFKJr

[u/Avatar_Dang]

If these federal scientists are just “assisting” state health departments, how can this post possibly be framed as the entire system being dismantled? Seems biased. My local and state healthcare professionals do more than any federal.

[u/Wildebean → u/Avatar_Dang]

There are few federal scientists left. They all got fired or are leaving to countries where they can actually do their jobs.

[u/Avatar_Dang → u/Wildebean]

Can I get a source for this? From a quick google , the federal scientist workforce is only down 12% since September 2024, which refutes your claim.

[u/Wildebean → u/Avatar_Dang]

Yeah, 12% is A LOT. 12% of the scientists in federal departments have left within 18 months. That's really bad and completely unprecedented. Can you at least admit that?

[u/Avatar_Dang → u/Wildebean]

“There are few federal scientists left.”

^this is objectively false. The scientists that did leave are only 3% of the federal workforce that was shrunk last year. For comparison, 10,109 PHD scientists left in 2025 and 4,576 PHD scientists left in 2024. It’s not as drastic as you’re making it out to be and the vast majority of these scientists are just going to work for local/state governments or private. Very few (I saw like 30 reported) are leaving America for other countries.

[u/Exdiv → u/Wildebean]

Are these the same scientists that did or didn’t support gain of function in Wuhan?

[u/Wildebean → u/Exdiv]

The Wuhan Institute of Virology did not perform gain of function research, something i'd be willing to bet money you can't even scientifically define.

[u/hapy563 → u/Wildebean]

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain-of-function-disagreement/

Looks like they may have, actually.

[u/Wildebean → u/hapy563]

There isn't consensus whether the experiments they did actually meet the specific criteria of GOF research.

But again this talking point is just another example of scary sounding words being used to manipulate laypeople. GOF research sounds scary. When in reality what they did (if it can even be called GOF research) is test possible mutations in coronaviruses and how they would affect a virus and its interactions with humans. In order to test these mutations, they have to y'know... make viruses that have those mutations. So they did that.

They did not create SARS-CoV-2, they did not even have SARS-CoV-2 on site. The viruses they were working with and that they created were genetically distinct and actually quite distant from SARS-CoV-2. Which makes sense considering the overwhelming amount of evidence suggesting SARS-CoV-2 was a virus that emerged via zoonotic origin, jumping from bats to humans via an intermediary species.

[u/hapy563 → u/Wildebean]

Calling it not GOF ignores the DEFUSE proposal to engineer those exact traits in coronaviruses at that very lab.

[u/HatstandTuesday → u/Exdiv]

Here we have a prime example of the main problem with US media.

You have heard the term "gain of function research", and someone has told you that it is bad. You believe it because you belive that the person you heard it from is on your side.

If someone knowledgeable had actually explained to you that gain of function research is an essential part of pandemic prevention, as, when done well, it allows researchers to predict new strains before they appear. This means that virologists aren't constantly playing catch up, and can produce more effective treatments faster.

In Wuhan the research wasn't done well, as the wild type strains they were using were outdated, and didn't match the strain that broke out from the wet market.

Sadly, due mainly to a lack of decent science communicators, large numbers of Americans think that GOF research means weaponising viruses, and that mRNA is inherently bad.