Revolving Door Project | Personnel is Policy: The Faces Behind Trump 2.0’s Measles Mismanagement

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For the first time in six years, confirmed measles cases in the United States have surged past 1,000, a grim milestone that has come to define Trump governance.

The ongoing outbreak is now the second-worst in a quarter century, exceeded only by the crisis that occurred during Trump’s first term. From January to October 2019, over 1,200 measles cases were confirmed across 31 states. It was the highest number the U.S. had seen since 1992—eight years before the disease was declared eradicated.

Both then and now, the vast majority of those infected were unvaccinated, a fact that underscored the consequences of rising vaccine hesitancy. Trump embraced vaccine-skepticism throughout his 2016 campaign, but the severity of the outbreak forced a shift in tone. Amidst the 2019 outbreak, he publicly urged Americans to “get their shots,” a rare and notable departure from his previous rhetoric.

Fast forward to 2025, and things are on track to be much worse. As of May 29, the CDC has recorded 1,088 cases across 32 states. And despite Trump’s best efforts to minimize the current outbreak, the crisis has once again forced him to recommend vaccines publicly.

This walkback is a contradiction of his administration’s pursuit of an ardently anti-vaccine agenda. As if mass layoffs at health agencies and numerous funding cuts to disease research weren’t damaging enough, the vaccine skeptics that populated the fringes of Trump 1.0 are now front and center. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. is the most notable example, but there are others including:

Jay Bhattacharya – NIH Director

Despite having a medical degree, Bhattacharya does not practice medicine and never completed a residency. Yet in October 2020, the economist worked with the libertarian American Institute for Economic Research to co-author the Great Barrington Declaration, “a proposed plan for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, advocating for discarding COVID-19 control measures such as lockdowns, school closings, masks and social distancing (so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions). Instead, it advocated allowing the development of so-called herd immunity through natural infection with SARS-CoV-2.”

Vinay Prasad – Director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)

“Prasad has advocated for more trials and testing of new medical treatments before approval, reversing approval for the pediatric Covid vaccination, and a let-it-rip mentality when it comes to kids getting repeatedly infected. As early as 2021, he advocated that kids knowingly get each other sick and that Covid testing be banned. In 2023, he wrote a post titled, ‘Do not report COVID cases to schools & do not test yourself if you feel ill: Only non-violent resistance can halt irrational public health actors.’ He has repeatedly said masks were ineffective, contrary to mountains of evidence.”

Tracy Beth Høeg – Special Assistant to Makary; CBER Senior Clinical Science Advisor

“She attended a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory meeting in the place of a career vaccine scientist in April, and reportedly was involved in the approval delay of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine […] While Høeg is not explicitly anti-vaccine, she’s certainly expressed skepticism of them in interviews and in her writing. She is close with the man who runs the Brownstone Institute, a think tank based on opposing Covid-19 restrictions that publishes articles casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of Covid shots and other vaccines.”

David Geier – Senior Data Analyst HHS

“The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct the analysis, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Geier and his father, Mark Geier, have published papers claiming vaccines increase the risk of autism, a theory that has been studied for decades and scientifically debunked. David Geier was disciplined by Maryland regulators more than a decade ago for practicing medicine without a license.”

Trump officials’ flirtation with and propagation of a bogus anti-vaccine agenda threatens the wellbeing of all of us. It’s a reminder of the oft-mentioned adage: personnel is policy. When the individuals entrusted with our health and safety choose to bury their heads in the sand, we get thrown into avoidable crisis situations.The result: many unnecessary deaths.

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