Declaration for Health and Science

The health of all Americans is at risk.

Healing the damage will take dedication, determination, and concerted effort.
We, the undersigned healthcare workers, public health professionals, health scientists, and concerned citizens, call on Congress, federal agencies, and the next generation of public health leaders to take the following actions.

Issued at the 911 Rally for Health and Science, Sam Gompers Park, Washington, DC, October 23, 2026

I. Restore Trustworthy Vaccine Science and Advisory Panels

Vaccines have been so successful that the scourge of the diseases they prevent has been forgotten. Presumptions of harm, unsupported by science, now motivate vaccine policy and beliefs. Federal policy must once again rest on the wisdom of the expert community.

1. Restore rigorous, transparent evidence review to CDC.
   1. Return the primary analysis of vaccine evidence to CDC scientific staff and Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) work groups. 
   2. Seek participation of external organizations such as the AAP and the AMA. 
   3. Restore the committee’s established Evidence to Recommendations framework. 
   4. Post agendas and evidence summaries in advance, accept public comment, and publish the rationale for each vote. 
   5. Reexamine changes imposed since June 2025.
2. Keep vaccines free at the point of care.
   1. Fully fund the Vaccines for Children program.
   2. Preserve no-cost insurance coverage for all recommended vaccines.
3. Protect the integrity of vaccine safety systems.
   1. Strengthen active safety surveillance and present passive reporting data accurately as signals rather than proof of harm. 
   2. Preserve the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program as a science-based, no-fault system.
4. Restore the memory of preventable disease.
   1. Fund public education that conveys what these diseases did before vaccines, including firsthand accounts from the grandparents, parents, and clinicians who remember them.

II. Protect the Scientific Independence of Federal Health Agencies

Public health is built on policy, and policy is shaped by politics. When one political appointee can dismiss an entire advisory committee, cancel its meetings, and replace its members with people who reject the scientific consensus, the health of every American rests on the judgment of a single official. Congress should place the core scientific functions of CDC and FDA beyond the reach of any one administration.

5. Establish scientific advisory committees in law.
   1. Write the structure and procedures for ACIP, the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, and the US Preventive Services Task Force into statute, with required meeting schedules. 
   2. Prohibit any secretary or agency head from dissolving them or blocking their meetings.
6. Appoint members on merit.
   1. Require that committee members be chosen from nominees vetted against published qualifications by an independent scientific body, such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and that they serve fixed, staggered terms.
7. Bar conflicts of interest in agency leadership.
   1. Prohibit anyone who has worked as a lobbyist or for a lobbying firm from serving as director, deputy director, or acting head of a federal health agency, or as chair of its scientific committees.
   2. Require public disclosure of financial interests of anyone in a leadership position.
8. Provide stable funding for core functions.
   1. Protect the essential, life-saving work of CDC and FDA from politically motivated budget cuts through multi-year or mandatory funding.

III. Protect the Integrity of Federally Funded Research

The U.S. government plays a vital role in driving scientific innovation by investing in research that is not yet profitable. Funding from the National Institutes of Health alone generates $2.56 in economic activity for every $1 invested. Yet, federal grants have been terminated for political reasons, peer review has been bypassed, and the scientific training pipeline has been disrupted. Research that took decades to build can be lost in months.

9. Keep funding decisions in scientific hands.
   1. Ensure that research funding decisions are made by scientists through rigorous peer review, not by political appointees.
   2. Provide stronger congressional oversight and, where needed, greater independence from the executive branch.
10. Ensure research serves all Americans.
    1. Guarantee that every community has the opportunity to benefit from scientific research, and that no population or field of study is excluded through discriminatory censorship.
11. Reverse the brain drain and rebuild the research workforce.
    1. Take immediate efforts to halt the loss of scientists from the federal workforce.
    2. Rebuild a scientific workforce that better represents the American public.
    3. Restore international collaboration.
12. Protect federal workers who refuse improper orders.
    1. Strengthen civil service protections so that federal employees can refuse unethical, unlawful, or wasteful orders without fear of retaliation.

IV. Restore American Leadership in Global Health and Pandemic Preparedness

On a connected planet, a disease that emerges in a wildlife market in Asia, a forest in Africa, or an airport in Florida threatens all of us. Over the past two years, misinformation-driven budget cuts have gutted our global health programs, closed USAID, and wiped out decades of public health diplomacy in the countries on the front line of pandemics. The United States must again lead.

13. Restore USAID’s epidemic and pandemic programs.
14. Restore full US participation in the World Health Organization.
15. Refund pandemic preparedness research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
16. Rebuild epidemic response capacity at CDC.
17. Move beyond preparedness to prevention by addressing the underlying drivers of pandemic risk, including the spillover of pathogens from wildlife to people.

V. Rebuild How Science Reaches the Public

Charting a path through a dangerous future will require the best possible science, and that science is useful only if it reaches the public and policymakers clearly and quickly. Central to this is an informed public that understands how science happens, how evidence accumulates, how understanding evolves, and how to assess the credibility of science without subject matter expertise. We call for urgent, well-funded federal initiatives that bring together subject matter experts to:

18. Conduct an independent, exhaustive examination of the science relevant to the pandemic
    1. Bring together scientists with strong subject matter expertise.
    2. Assess the origins of the virus, the nature of its acute and chronic effects, and the effectiveness of public health interventions.
    3. Review the decisions made during the pandemic, NOT for assessing blame, but rather to determine how best to prevent and respond to future pandemics.
19. Build a fast, open, and interactive system for disseminating science that:
    1. Captures the scientific community’s assessment of emerging research and integrates it with the full body of existing evidence. 
    2. Explores alternatives to the existing, profit-based publishing system and improves the interface between science and social media.
    3. Counters misinformation in conventional and social media.
    4. Integrates with the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.
20. Create a national education program to help Americans become informed consumers of science, including: 
    1. Types of evidence including their strengths and limitations.
    2. The process of scientific publishing.
    3. How to judge expertise and the credibility of scientific claims.
    4. How to recognize potential misinformation on conventional and social media.

VI. Establish Universal Healthcare and Remove Profit from the Delivery of Care

Public trust in medicine rests on the certainty that clinical care is guided by medical evidence and patient need rather than corporate profit. In the United States, that trust has been badly damaged by a commercial financing system where insurers ration care to maximize margins, leaving millions delayed, denied, or burdened with debt for getting sick. The nation already spends far more per capita than any peer country, dollars that suffice to cover every resident, yet care remains fragmented and inaccessible. Rebuilding faith in U.S. healthcare requires treating it as a public good, not a commodity.

21. Guarantee comprehensive care through a single-payer system.
    1. Enact an improved Medicare-for-All program covering all residents for lifelong medical, preventive, reproductive, dental, and behavioral healthcare—free at the point of service with no copays, deductibles, surprise bills, or risk of medical debt.
22. Redirect corporate waste to direct patient care.
    1. Eliminate commercial insurance overhead, algorithmic claim denials, and corporate extraction. 
    2. Replace fragmented billing with a publicly administered, democratically accountable trust fund that finances healthcare efficiently and equitably.
23. Restore clinical autonomy and align care with public health needs through global budgeting.
    1. Prohibit corporate interference and financial gatekeeping in medical decisions, ensuring clinicians are free to follow science. 
    2. Implement institutional global operating budgets that reliably sustain hospitals and clinics based on community health needs, ensuring vital support for underserved rural and inner-city communities.

A Call to Sign

Our goal is to protect the health of every American, whatever their politics. We invite physicians, scientists, nurses, public health workers, and all who value health and science to add their names.

Signatories sign as individuals. Affiliations are listed for identification only and do not imply institutional endorsement.