Our Healthcare Emergency
By Alice Bond | Project 2029 Contributor
ldcea123@gmail.com
The most indelibly charged moment I’ve ever known was an evening in 2020 when the whole city of Denver turned into a racket-filled open-air stadium in homage to the healthcare workers of COVID-19.
The sky was shot with fingers of gold and pink as we stepped through windows and stood on the balcony. At seven on the dot, the sound began and swelled. Pots and pans clashed and banged. Bells and whistles rang. Deep-throated African drums boomed sorrow and affirmation. Coyote yips and howls echoed across high rises. Hoots and woo-hoos of appreciation went out to the doctors and nurses we never saw, but imagined, behind dangerous hospital doors. It was a much needed expression – a spiritual call and response. It hinted of stress, epic frustration, gratitude, desperation to be free of sickness, and the comfort of being together amid strict isolation.
For a furious hour, it was a living memorial to the Americans that died and a gut-felt tribute to the courageous healthcare workers who led the public health care system and cared for COVID patients.
And it reflects the moment America finds itself in.
In September 2025, we face a new life-threatening healthcare crisis, with both wide-spread and deep consequences—that of the failure of the American Public Health system.
Two major events have damaged the picture of American healthcare and its future. First, for the last six months Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in his post as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, has overseen the withering and weakening of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has cut staff, dismantled research, and replaced leadership with non-science-based appointees. Now the CDC —the national public health agency of the United States, with a collection of world class scientists, medical doctors, and healthcare leaders —is collapsing before our eyes. Second, on August 27, 2025 Kennedy announced new COVID guidelines for vaccination. With the new restrictions, he has redefined and limited eligibility for receiving COVID vaccines.
The loss of knowledge, leadership, and vital health service within the CDC has put the lives of millions of Americans at stake. Agencies, pharmacies, and patients are confused.
At least in 2020, we had expert scientific leadership and fact-based research in place. When COVID arrives this year, we will not have a functioning national health agency or a director who believes in nonpartisan or settled science. There will be no sound expertise in public health surveillance, disease prevention, or preparedness. Health standards will have changed radically. Ongoing research will have been stopped.
With this on my mind, I headed to my own pharmacy, a retail chain, up the street in search of COVID vaccine answers for me and for the rest of my family. I am also curious about the safety of young children during COVID as well as the safety of their teachers.
A self-possessed and all-business woman pharmacist greets me at the corner of the check-out counter. We talk.
When asked about the new vaccine availability, she shrugs like she’s at a loss for more information, and indicates she’s waiting for it right now, expecting it at the end of the week.
What has changed since the new edicts on eligibility? She informs me that everyone needs a prescription from your doctor for a COVID vaccine this year.
When I say, but I’m over 65—do I need a prescription? She holds the pharmacy’s corporate line. “Yes, you still need one,” she assures. Another couple of steps for me to secure a vaccine, I think.
Though her pronouncement may sound like the prescription policy is a national standard, it is not. Policies vary by location and provider, so check your state department of health or with your pharmacy.
I note that requiring a prescription from the doctor puts the pharmacy at a legal remove and protects them from the poorly written new federal vaccine regulations.
I explain that there is a woman in my family under 65 — does she have to pay out of pocket? She quickly responds, “Why would she have to pay? As long as it is in your formulary, you are covered.” Fancy pharmacy speak. She clearly expects insurance coverage to continue unchanged no matter what the new CDC guidelines say about the eligibility of the patient.
And how much is the vaccine out-of-pocket? About $200.00, she estimates.
Kids and younger teachers who mingle with them all day—according to my pharmacist’s sunny outlook—are just examples of those who are eligible for the COVID vaccine as long as they produce an underlying medical condition and a prescription from their doctor.
Finally, I wonder, are many patients confused about the changes? She makes an emphatic expression, “Yes, many. Even I’m confused,” she said, smiling.
Walking home, I plan to contact my doctor and schedule a vaccine online. I feel the urge to ask more questions, to get more details, and to ask my doctor how it’s going with covid vaccines this year.
When I was seven in Oklahoma, we were one of the early generations of kids vaccinated against polio. First, there was an injection administered in school, and then we received oral doses of vaccine in a sugar cube. For us, it was as if polio never existed. We never experienced pool closings because of outbreaks. We lived free from illness and crippling by the disease. One of my girlfriends in middle school was mildly, almost imperceptibly impaired by polio and I was shocked to even learn of it. We had the freedom and scientific support to be safe from a widely infectious killer disease.
This is what is at stake today. We do not have the safety of a sound national public health system that accepts the settled science of vaccines. We do not have the security of ethical, service oriented and scientific leaders in public health.
The manifestations of the chaos at the CDC are palpable according to one CDC scientist. They affect our country’s health in cases of other imminent and developing infectious outbreaks, including measles and malaria which were brought under control with vaccines in the past.
Meanwhile, the courageous staff at the CDC endures a world of excruciating pressure and difficulty. Kennedy cast doubt on the measles vaccine in the middle of the largest epidemic since it was declared eradicated. He cancelled $500 million for mRNA-vaccine studies. And he fired the latest CDC director, Susan Monarez, for refusing to change established scientific data and to dismiss senior staff.
A premiere roster of past CDC doctors and administrative heads recently united to send this message: “This is a time to rally to protect the health of every American.”
It is seven on the dot again. Open those windows. Recall the extreme effort and heroism of the nurses and doctors. Make a difference. Honor those who work on our behalf in stressful conditions today, and fight for your health care.