Many of my Republican colleagues champion “merit” - meeting basic standards for a job. The Surgeon General MUST be a member of the USPHS Commissioned Corps. To serve as a physician in the Corps, you MUST hold an active medical license. I -and every prior SG- was held to that standard. If the administration lowers (or creates a back door around) those standards, and the Senate confirms Casey Means (who has let her license go inactive and didn't complete residency), they undermine every argument they've made about merit, standards, and opposing “DEI” shortcuts. 🤷🏽‍♂️

As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate. Before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20. Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.

The LUCUS can be hard to use correctly. What happens to survival in a system that works hard to use it correctly? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

NAEMSP proudly welcomes Douglas F. Kupas, MD, NRP, FAEMS, as its new president. Dr. Kupas began his term on Saturday, January 11, and will serve through the conclusion of the NAEMSP conference in 2027.