Intensive care physician Dr. Tina Shah, specialist in pulmonary and critical care, who is running for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th District, joined the group 314 Action, as well as Hawaii Governor Dr. Josh Green, and other medical leaders at a virtual press conference last week to express alarm about Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine agenda.
Dr. Shah said her opponent, incumbent Republican Tom Kean Jr. was “enabling the chaos”, a press release from her campaign (drtinashahforcongress.com) said.
“Congressman Tom Kean Jr. just voted to gut Medicaid, even though one in five New Jerseyans rely on it. I can’t tell you how many times, as a doctor working in a hospital, I’ve enrolled patients in Medicaid,” said Dr. Shah. “Without Medicaid, their medical care would have completely bankrupted them, or they would have not been able to access care at all.”
RFK Jr.’s actions, she contended, have put all Americans at risk. Shah criticized the firing of CDC leaders who refused to alter the vaccine schedules, and for taking actions based on ideology rather than science.
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Shah accused the current administration of “straight negligence” for undermining the trust in vaccines and science.
“America is in critical condition. Vaccines are a crowning jewel in the history of modern medicine,” said Dr. Shah.
A triple board-certified physician, Dr. Shah has served both the public and private sectors. She served under three presidential administrations, developing innovative strategies to expand access to healthcare to veterans and leading the first federal plan to combat the burnout that drove doctors and nurses out of the field.
In New Jersey, she successfully fought for legislation that stopped insurance companies from denying care, the press release said.
She has also led efforts to cut red tape for doctors and nurses, freeing them to focus on patients and outcomes instead of paperwork.