RFK Jr.’s shake-up of the Department of Health and Human Services isn’t reform: it’s retreat. Cutting 20,000 jobs and rolling back vaccine guidance under the label of “individual choice” sounds like freedom, but it leaves the country exposed when the next health crisis hits. Public health is strongest when it’s proactive, not reactive. By sidelining science and gutting infrastructure, this “reset” risks long-term vulnerability and represents a government abandoning its responsibility to protect public well-being.