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QuickTake:
At a Friday community forum, Lane County health leaders raised concerns about misinformation and uncertainty facing local prevention programs as President Trump appoints MAHA-aligned leaders and pursues budget cuts.
Local public health leaders emphasized their commitment to evidence-based and preventative treatments such as vaccines during the Friday meeting of the City Club of Eugene, a community forum.
Their comments came as measles cases in the United States hit 1,001 this week. Friday’s conversation also coincided with the announcement of President Donald Trump’s pick for surgeon general: Casey Means, a physician turned social media influencer.
Means left a surgical residency at Oregon Health & Science University in 2018 and has since let her Oregon medical license lapse. Her nomination requires Senate confirmation.
Through her social media and newsletters, Means has shared vaccine-skeptical content from non-peer-reviewed sources. Her messaging aligns with Health and Human Services official Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement — which some public health leaders believe is eroding scientific trust and fueling a rise in preventable disease.
Against that backdrop, doctors like PeaceHealth Chief Medical Officer Kim Ruscher took questions from the community Friday about how the local health system is moving forward.
“We need to prioritize our hospital and medical groups to deliver evidence-based treatments, including prevention efforts at every opportunity,” said Ruscher.
Oregon has not yet seen a measles case this year, though should the disease spread locally, it could be especially dangerous for unvaccinated preschoolers. In recent years, vaccination rates have declined in pockets of the country and dipped for young children in Lane County.
Currently in Lane County, 90% of children ages 19 months through 5 years in the county are up to date on their first measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). That’s below the 95% vaccination rate needed for herd immunity — the threshold at which enough people are vaccinated to stop measles from spreading.
As the measles outbreak grows, budget cuts from the Trump administration are hindering vaccination efforts, leaving local clinics to do what they can with limited resources.
“In making these decisions of what we are going to be able to, we have to go back to what is our mission, and what is our mission? Serving the community,” Ruscher said. “No matter what the circumstances are.”
Other experts who joined Ruscher on Friday included University of Oregon Prevention Science Institute Associate Research Professor Anne Marie Mauricio, Lane County Senior Public Health Officer Patrick Luedtke, and Division Manager for Lane County Public Health Jocelyn Warren.
