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<\/p>\nFour senior officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced their resignations in recent days, citing what they described as growing political interference in the agency\u2019s scientific work, particularly regarding vaccines.<\/p>\n
Two of them \u2014 Debra Houry, the CDC\u2019s chief science and medical officer, and Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases \u2014 stepped down on Aug. 27, hours after the White House announced the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez.<\/p>\n
Monarez, confirmed by the Senate in late July, was removed less than a month into her tenure. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Monarez \u201cwas not aligned with the President\u2019s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.\u201d Monarez\u2019s attorneys argue the dismissal is unlawful, asserting that only the president can remove a Senate-confirmed director.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 28, Jim O\u2019Neill, the deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was chosen to serve as acting CDC director, several White House officials confirmed to CBS News and KFF Health News. And in an internal email sent to CDC staffers that evening, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed O\u2019Neill as the acting CDC director without addressing Monarez\u2019s departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am committed to working with you to restore trust, transparency, and credibility to the CDC,\u201d Kennedy told CDC employees, later writing that \u201cPresident Trump and I are aligned on the commonsense vision for the CDC: Strengthen the public health infrastructure by returning to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases by investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Houry and Daskalakis said they had become increasingly uneasy about how vaccine policy was being handled. Both pointed to preparations for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting, which recommends vaccine schedules.<\/p>\n
Houry said they feared \u201csome decisions had been made before there was even the data or the science to support those. We are scientists, and that was concerning to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daskalakis added that he was \u201cvery concerned that there\u2019s going to be an attempt to relitigate vaccines that have already had clear recommendations with science that has been vetted,\u201d which he warned could undermine public trust. \u201cIf you can\u2019t attack access, then why not attack trust? And that\u2019s what I think the playbook is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Both officials cited instances in which evidence reviews were altered or withdrawn. A CDC analysis of thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, was briefly posted before being taken down at the HHS\u2019 direction. \u201cIf there\u2019s something that doesn\u2019t line up with the recommendations, then that information will be taken down, and it\u2019s not there for the public to see for openness and transparency,\u201d Houry said.<\/p>\n
The two also criticized what they described as a lack of direct communication between CDC scientists and HHS leadership. Daskalakis said his team was never invited to brief Kennedy on topics ranging from measles to covid-19.<\/p>\n
When asked about Kennedy\u2019s calls for \u201cradical transparency,\u201d Houry and Daskalakis described learning about changes to the covid vaccine schedule for children not through internal channels but via social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe radical transparency manifested itself by a Twitter post, which is how Dr. Houry and I learned that the secretary had mandated the change in the children\u2019s vaccine schedule for covid,\u201d Daskalakis recalled. \u201cWhat is the background that led to that decision? And we were denied access to that information. So, I don\u2019t think that that\u2019s radically transparent,\u201d Daskalakis said.<\/p>\n
CBS News and KFF Health News reached out to HHS for comment on some of the allegations made by Houry and Daskalakis but did not immediately hear back.<\/p>\n
Both officials said they had no jobs lined up when they resigned. Houry described the decision as an effort to raise the alarm about the direction of the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, this was really sending out a bat signal,\u201d Houry said. \u201cWe were the very senior scientists and career leaders at CDC. We thought this was the time to stand together and try to do what we could to raise the alarm around public health in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daskalakis said remaining at the CDC under current conditions would have made them complicit in what he called the \u201cweaponization\u201d of public health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety has already been compromised. \u2026 We are flying blind in the U.S. already. If we continued \u2026 we would be complicit and would be facilitating the ability to go from flying blind to actively harming people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Houry emphasized the severity of the moment by noting that she left without a backup plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy leaving without a job was really just showing how dire the circumstances had become,\u201d Houry said.<\/p>\n
Daskalakis said his decision was also shaped by his medical oath.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a physician, I take the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm. I am seeing ideology permeating science in a way that is going to harm children and adults. \u2026 I think we are seeing things that are happening that are making our country less prepared to be able to respond to the everyday pathogens \u2026 but also \u2026 to the next big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both also expressed concerns about their personal safety in the current climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environment we live in \u2026 stoked by misinformation, especially from people considered by some to be health authorities, makes me worried for all of us in public health,\u201d Daskalakis said. \u201cI am concerned, but that\u2019s part of our job \u2026 to be brave and continue to speak the truth even when we are outside of the CDC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resignations came weeks after a shooting outside the CDC\u2019s Atlanta headquarters, which law enforcement linked to covid misinformation.<\/p>\n
Houry said the White House response to the shooting was muted. Kennedy toured the site but later gave an interview expressing distrust of experts. \u201cThat was after the attack. It was based on covid misinformation. So this is when we were trying to build trust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Daskalakis added that while Kennedy later described mass shootings as a public health crisis, he believed the secretary should address misinformation as a root cause. \u201cThe misinformation about the covid vaccine \u2014 that has been documented by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation\u201d as the reason for the CDC shooting. \u201cI would really recommend that the secretary actually do take his own advice and actually address the core problem that led to that shooting as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also noted that the CDC\u2019s gun violence prevention programs had been sharply reduced. \u201cWe talk about violence as a public health problem. It is, and there\u2019s things we can do to prevent it. Unfortunately, the majority of that program, the staff are terminated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The firings and resignations have sparked calls for oversight. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont called for a bipartisan investigation, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington urged Kennedy\u2019s removal, and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana \u2014 who voted to confirm Kennedy\u2019s appointment as HHS secretary \u2014 said the developments would \u201crequire oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The events come as the FDA narrowed eligibility for updated covid vaccines to older adults and people with risk factors for severe covid.<\/p>\n
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