The physicians of the Massachusetts Medical Society reaffirm our unwavering support of all who play critical roles in safeguarding public health.
We are proud to work with our colleagues in public health across the Commonwealth and across the country, who are essential in promoting health, surveilling disease outbreaks, preventing illness, deploying vaccination programs, and mitigating public health emergencies that have the potential to result in serious and deadly consequences. As we care for patients, physicians count on expertise and guidance every day from public health officials.
Reductions in funding and resources that impact public health staff, agencies, or programs, and policies that question evidence-based science, will diminish the health care community's collective ability to care for our patients and respond to emergencies, and can lead to significant outbreaks of disease and preventable illnesses and deaths.
Decisions about how to confront public health crises – whether existing or new- are optimally made in consultation with subject matter experts who understand the immediate and long-term implications for our patients. When lives are at stake, we cannot afford to get these decisions wrong, and experts in public health provide evidence-supported guidance based on the best available science and data.
The Massachusetts Medical Society recognizes that public health professionals are the backbone of our health care infrastructure and, as physicians, we stand with them in our shared commitment to improve health in all communities as together we strive to ensure that every person in the Commonwealth achieves the highest attainable standard of health.
-Hugh M. Taylor, MD, President, Massachusetts Medical Society
