Dr. Susan Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was fired in late August by President Trump’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy, Jr. The White House issued a statement claiming that she was “not aligned with the president’s agenda.” Dr. Monarez’s lawyers stated that her sacking was illegal, and that she was fired for refusing to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives” and choosing to protect “the public over serving a political agenda.”
Dr. Monarez has a background in infectious disease research and was confirmed by the Senate as director just one month ago. Democratic and Republican senators alike are taking issue with her firing because it negates the process of Senate confirmation and diminishes their power. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont stated that Kennedy’s decision to sack Dr. Monarez was “reckless” and “dangerous.”
Around the same time, four other CDC leaders resigned from their positions: Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debra Houry; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, the Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Dr. Demeter Daskalakis, the Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Dr. Jennifer Layden, the Director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.
The experts cited their frustration with the lack of scientific backing for the Kennedy and the CDC’s recent decisions. Dr Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter on X:
“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than improve the public’s health…I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people…[The vaccine work group’s] desire to please a political base will result in the death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”
These resignations come at a time when vaccine policy is under siege. When Kennedy was selected as Health Secretary to President Trump, he repeatedly swore in writing that he would not take any action to slow or halt this country’s vaccine program. While he claimed in a Senate hearing on September 4 that he was living up to this promise, his actions show otherwise.
During his seven months as Health Secretary, Kennedy has managed to cancel $500 million in grants intended to be used to research mRNA vaccines and remove all 17 members of the CDC advisory committee on immunization. He has refused to deny a link between vaccines and autism, dismissing decades of peer-reviewed studies that found no correlation. He has also severely limited the accessibility of the COVID-19 vaccine, prompting some states to move their vaccine policy away from being reliant on federal agencies and instead basing them on state public health departments. Massachusetts has also required health insurance companies to pay for all vaccines recommended by the state Department of Public Health. That said, it is unclear how easy it will be for those under 65 to get a COVID vaccine in the coming months.
Florida has taken a radical course and is moving to end school vaccine mandates, a move strongly opposed by public health experts including Dr. Houry, who stated that the change could cause a large quantity of preventable outbreaks. As reported by BBC, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who was repeatedly been accused of spreading misinformation by health groups, claimed that vaccine mandates were akin to “slavery.”
Notably, measles cases in the United States have reached record levels since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. This is likely due to the recent misinformation about vaccines being spread by Kennedy and the new administration.
As Trump delivers on his promise to let Kennedy “go wild on health,” many Democratic lawmakers are expressing concern.
