Trump Targets Public Health System, Military COVID Vaccine Mandate in His Inaugural Address

In a somber and stylistically restrained, 30-minute speech that focused on immigration and his vision of American power and expansion, President Donald Trump touched only briefly on healthcare-related issues in his inaugural address today.

Appearing to stick closely to what was shown on teleprompters to the left and right of the podium with the familiar presidential seal on it, Trump criticized the competence and expense of the public health system and promised to address chronic disease and childhood health.

Trump received a partial standing ovation about 19 minutes into the speech delivered in the when he said, “as of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States that there are only two genders, male and female.”

Immediately afterward, he said that this week he would reinstate any armed services who were “unjustly expelled” from the military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate, adding, with emphasis, “with full back pay.”

Trump’s theme during the approximately first five minutes of the address was the shortcomings of the federal government and what he characterized as incompetence in dealing crises and disasters. He referred to the Los Angeles fires and response to damage done by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. In those opening minutes, the public health system (not the healthcare system) was among his targets. His exact words at approximately 4 minutes and 45 seconds into the address: “We have a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster yet more money is spent on it than any country anywhere in the world.”

In the final, approximately 10 minutes of the address, Trump pivoted to the future and his vision of a more powerful, confident, assertive and expansionist U.S. He ended his address ended with rhetorical flourish that “nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans. The future is ours, and our golden age has just begun.” During this section of the speech, Trump mentioned about renaming the Gulf of Mexico, taking back the Panama Canal and going to Mars during this part of the speech. His reference to chronic disease came a couple of lines after calling on Americans to “once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization.”

“Together we will end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy and disease, “ he said.

Trump is expected to sign scores of executive orders over the next several days, but apparently none of the ones he signed today were related to public health or healthcare.

The Washington Post today reported that approximately 8,000 members of the military were “separated” for refusing the COVID vaccine and might therefore be affected by Trump’s plans to reinstate them. The newspaper reported, however, that fewer than 50 of the 8,00) had returned to duty after a bill backed by Senate Republicans rescinded the vaccine mandate and allowed them to rejoin.

The Biden administration imposed the mandate in 2021 when the virus was still causing serious illness and death, arguing that unvaccinated soldiers and other members of the military were a risk to military readiness.

How Trump’s statements about the public health system and chronic disease will get translated into policy and programs is less clear cut. Dave Weldon, M.D., his nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not drawn much scrutiny.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominees to lead the sprawling Department of Health and Humans Service, which includes the CDC, CMS, the FDA and the National Institutes of Health, has spoken about American eating habits, artificial ingredients in the country’s food supply and the rise of chronic disease. But Kennedy’s nomination is controversial and his Senate confirmation uncertain because of his views on vaccine, which some view as antivaccine and likely to further undermine public confidence in vaccines. Kennedy has said he is not antivaccine and only wants them properly studied.

Trump’s avenue for implementing his views on gender include executive orders that would change federal government hiring policies and altering Title IX guidance.