What did Donald Trump do today?

He forced out the federal government's top remaining vaccine official.

Dr. Peter Marks, who played a substantial role in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, was forced out by the Trump administration today. In his resignation letter, Marks said Trump's secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., was backsliding on his confirmation hearing promises not to destroy what remains of the government's capacity to produce lifesaving vaccines.

Referencing Kennedy's beliefs about health and medicine, which are on the fringe even by the standards of most people who identify as "vaccine skeptics," Marks wrote: "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies."

Kennedy was appointed HHS Secretary by Trump as part of a political bargain in which Kennedy—whose few supporters were generally socially liberal—would throw his support behind the notionally conservative Trump.

In addition to his belief in an extreme version of anti-vaccine conspiracy, Kennedy also claims to believe:

• that toxic megadoses vitamin A can cure the infectious disease of measles—which has led to an outbreak of poisonings in areas affected by a measles outbreak Kennedy is trying to downplay

• that the COVID-19 virus was genetically engineered to spare Jews

• that a single fraudlent study, arguably the most widely discredited single paper in medical history, shows that vaccines cause autism

• that fluoridation of water is responsible for almost every form of human illness (the same belief that was parodied as an old-fashioned, paranoid delusion in the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove)

• that pasteurized milk is unhealthy, but "raw" milk is not—in spite of countless outbreaks of salmonella, influenza, and other communicable diseases linked to it

• that the best way to treat an outbreak of bird flu in livestock chickens—which can be deadly to humans—is to let it rage through the entire American poultry system, in the hopes that the offspring of the few surviving birds will be immune

In addition to other massive cuts to federal health programs, Trump is in the process of firing as many as 20,000 other HHS employees.

Like Trump, Kennedy is vaccinated against all the diseases he now claims to believe that other Americans should not be—as are his children.

Trump himself did not comment on Marks' firing. He continued to remain out of public view today after a series of events earlier in the week in which he appeared confused, forgetful, or ill-informed. As is typical for Trump, he ended his workweek early this morning and will spend a  long weekend at his Florida compound.

Why does this matter?

• Presidents are responsible for the policies they let their staff implement.

• The overwhelming majority of Americans support vaccine research and expect the government to actually do things to combat infectious disease.