Photo from the Instagram account of Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Center for Disease Control.

Following news of CDC director Susan Monarez’s ouster by the Trump administration, Dr. Daskalakis resigned along with three other CDC senior officials.

None of these people went quietly. Susan Monarez first refused to obey her boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, on replacing some senior personnel and on vaccine policy, then she refused to accept being fired. Needless to say, she and her key staff members, including Dr. Daskalakis, quickly ran to the media attempting to go over the heads of Secretary Kennedy and President Trump and seek the support of the public.

Supposedly, all of these health professionals have been bravely defending Science against political interference.

Their viewpoint overlooks the important consideration that they are working for a Cabinet officer appointed by a President elected by 77 million Americans and they were elected by nobody.

As to claims of possession of a supposed scientific high ground, well, it seems obvious to a lot of us that Dr. Daskalaskis’s overall judgment and that gentleman’s grasp of Biology are both seriously open to question.

I have not taken the time to look into all the public expressions of Susan Monarez and those other brave martyrs to Science, following in footsteps of Galileo, but I feel comfortable in guessing that a close examination of their opinions and careers would result in my applauding their dismissal.

The Center for Disease Control is about to begin investigating a possibly imaginary disease called Morgellons, the first modern case of which was identified by a mother in a small town in Southwestern, Pennsylvania on the basis of a disease description in a 1690 monograph by Sir Thomas Browne.

Not altogether surprisingly, the San Francisco Bay Area is a hotbed of Morgellons affliction.

Morgellons Research Foundation