BREAKING: HHS Secretary Kennedy Announces Major Action to Combat Lyme Disease

The era of ‘gaslighting’ Americans suffering from Lyme disease and other tickborn illnesses is over, Kennedy said Friday

On Friday, in Concord, New Hampshire, Secretary Kennedy announced new actions to tackle Lyme disease and other diseases transmitted to humans by ticks.

Kennedy began his remarks by offering sympathy to the growing number of Americans afflicted with Lyme disease, an “invisible illness” spread through tick bites. He pledged that, unlike previous administrations, his HHS will work to offer support to people suffering with Lyme disease while working on preventive measures to ensure that the spread of Lyme is reduced by 25% by 2035, compared to 2022 levels.

Pledging that the era of “gaslighting” Lyme patients is over, Kennedy announced that HHS will host a series of roundtables with physicians. The agency will also actively develop standardized treatment protocols and drive long-overdue reforms for specialized diagnostics and advanced therapies.

To ensure patients no longer navigate this crisis alone, HHS has launched a dedicated website to connect individuals with Lyme disease specialists, while simultaneously rolling out nationwide educational initiatives to train doctors on how to accurately recognize and diagnose the disease early.

The centerpiece of the new efforts to combat the illness is a multi-million-dollar pilot program led by the CDC and leading researchers to eliminate ticks on wildlife before they can transmit diseases to humans. Initiated in partnership with the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, the Indian Health Service, and the Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts, this collaborative effort focuses on disrupting tick breeding cycles at the source to drastically slow transmission.

In addition to combating Lyme disease, HHS will also work on measures to combat Alpha-gal syndrome, a separate disease spread by ticks that can cause devastating allergic reactions to red meat. “We intend to bring the same urgency, innovation, and scientific rigor to Alpha-gal syndrome that we are to Lyme disease,” said Kennedy.

HHS also launched three new LymeX innovation challenges, offering up to $2.5 million in total prize funding to accelerate breakthroughs in public awareness, treatment, and patient care for Lyme disease.

Joining Kennedy at Friday’s event in New Hampshire was Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos, the director of National Health Communications for the Office of Surgeon General.

“Thirty-one million people get bitten by ticks per year in the United States,” Haridopolos said. “Not all of them get Lyme disease but we know [at least] half a million do. Twenty percent of those who get Lyme disease go onto chronic, persistent Lyme disease that has autoimmune dysfunction and inflammation in their body that can take years to rectify.”

HHS also announced a new public-private collaboration with the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). By going to hhs.gov/lyme,people can now access ILADS’ clinician locator tool, helping connect them with experienced doctors and educational resources for Lyme disease and associated chronic conditions.

Lyme disease was first identified in the mid 1970s during an outbreak of arthritis-like symptoms in children in Lyme, Connecticut, and for years was confined to the Northeast. But it’s now found in ticks in all 50 states and more than 476,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year, making it a significant and growing threat to the health of Americans.

Kennedy said at Friday’s press conference that in the 1980s, when he lived in Bedford, New York – a small town about an hour north of New York City – he, his wife and all six of his children contracted Lyme disease, and that the face of one of his sons was paralyzed for a year as a result of the disease.

“But I’ve seen much worse than that, people suffering, having their lives devastated, their careers devastated, their capacity to support their family, and just living in pain all the time” said Kennedy. “One of the real tragedies now is that Americans can’t go in the woods anymore safely. And going in the woods to hike, to fish, to hunt, to photograph, or just, you know, to walk in the woods, is part of the seminal experience of being an American – in particular an American child. It’s a science fiction nightmare that we now live in that parents have to worry about their children going to the woods.”