🔗 Share this article

Former senior leaders from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have accused Robert F Kennedy Jr of weakening the country’s ability to respond to disease surges and public health risks.

Statements Before Senate Panel

A pair of ex- agency leaders testified at a session before the Senate HELP committee on Wednesday. Susan Monarez, the agency head selected by Kennedy, was dismissed after less than a month. Debra Houry, chief medical officer at the CDC, resigned after working under six CDC leaders during both Republican and Democrat administrations.

Claims of Coercion and Interference

On 25 August, Kennedy reportedly demanded that Monarez “commit in advance to endorsing every ACIP recommendation, regardless of the scientific evidence”, she stated. He also directed her to fire longtime staff responsible for vaccine policy without cause, she added.

“Kennedy stated if I was not ready to do both, I should step down. I replied that I could not pre-approve recommendations without examining the evidence, and I had no reason to fire scientific experts,” Monarez thinks that’s the real reason she was terminated.

Kennedy was “very upset” and “tense” in their meeting. He spoke of the CDC and its staff in a “hurtful and disparaging” manner, Monarez testified.

“He called, in that setting, CDC the most unethical federal agency in the world. He emphasized that CDC employees were horrible people. He claimed that CDC employees were killing children, and they aren’t concerned.”

Danger to Vaccine Availability

Monarez added that based on her experience, “exists a real risk that guidelines could be made limiting access to vaccines for children and individuals in need, without thorough scientific review. With no full-time CDC director in place, those decisions could be adopted.”

She continued: “The stakes are not theoretical. We already have seen the biggest measles outbreak in more than 30 years, which claimed the lives of two children. If vaccine protections are weakened, avoidable diseases will recur.”

Also on 25 August, Monarez said Kennedy told her “the pediatric vaccine schedule would be changing starting in September, and I needed to be on board with it”. She claimed Kennedy had the backing of the former administration, with Kennedy asserting to her that “he spoke to the President every day about altering the childhood vaccine schedule”.

Vaccine Committee Session and Concerns

The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, ACIP, which has been replaced with Kennedy’s selected consultants, is scheduled to meet on later this week. Bill Cassidy, a Republican lawmaker from Louisiana who leads the committee, lately called for an delay of the ACIP meeting.

“Should the session go ahead, any recommendations made should be dismissed as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the accusations and the current instability in CDC leadership,” Cassidy, who is a physician, remarked.

ACIP will allegedly take up a vote on the current recommendation that the hepatitis B vaccine be given at delivery.

“Folks know I’m a doctor – as it turns out I am a hepatologist,” Cassidy noted. “I have seen people succumb from hepatitis.”

Over 90% of children infected at birth develop chronic infections and risk liver cancer, he added.

“Now that we’ve managed it, do we reverse progress if the recommendation goes away?” Cassidy asked.

Political Influence and Suppression

Debra Houry also stated to seeing political interference and said she “resigned because CDC leaders were demoted to automatic approvals, backing policies not based in science, and putting American lives at risk.” She said Kennedy “censored CDC science, politicized its processes and stripped leaders of autonomy.”

Approximately 80% of center directors are now acting because career officials have been fired, quit or retired, Houry said.

Threats and Safety Concerns

These unprecedented changes come as the CDC and its employees face violence and threats. On 8 August, a gunman unloaded more than 500 shots on the CDC headquarters, with 180 bullets striking the building. Houry said her staff was “deeply affected”.

Kennedy did not call Monarez after the shooting, Monarez stated. Such hostility following decades of false claims and harassment of health experts has far-reaching repercussions. Some CDC staff will now not put their names on scientific reports on vaccines to safeguard themselves and their families.

Management Breakdown and Public Health Risk

Houry initially discovered that Kennedy had changed the CDC’s Covid vaccine guidance in a social media update.

“CDC scientists have still not seen the research evidence or reasoning for this change,” she said.

Houry stated that she has never informed the secretary, nor have her center directors – even as the worst measles outbreak in decades developed. She also objected on misinformation from the secretary: “He said things like vaccines had fetal parts, and I had to send a note to our leadership team to clarify that misinformation. We were also asked to include things like budesonide and clarithromycin in our toolkits for physicians, and I couldn’t allow that, as there wasn’t evidence for that and would cause harm.”

The new limitations on Covid vaccines have led to confusion with the updated vaccine distribution, though Kennedy stated before the finance committee that “anybody can get the booster.”

“My mom lives in Virginia, and she was not able to get it,” Houry said.

The HHS also interfered with information about thimerosal, a preservative demonstrated to be safe, and allowed an “unreviewed presentation” on thimerosal to occur in the summer ACIP meeting, she said.

“That kind of rushed alteration erodes confidence and the deliberations that follow,” Houry commented.

The vaccine advisers ultimately voted to prohibit thimerosal, which is used in about 4% of flu vaccines in the US. If vaccine-preventable diseases are allowed to continue rising, “it’s going to be heartbreaking,” Houry stated.

Houry added that she’s “worried about the future of CDC and public health in our country.

“We are not prepared, not just for pandemics, but for preventing chronic health disease, and we’re going to see kids dying of vaccine-preventable diseases,” she continued.

Summary

Kennedy said in the finance committee hearing that Monarez told him she was untrustworthy. Monarez then said in Wednesday’s hearing: “He claimed he could not trust me because I had shared information related to our conversation beyond his staff. I told him, if you cannot trust me, then you can fire me.”

The matter under debate on Wednesday went beyond the circumstances of Monarez’s and Houry’s departure, said senator Bernie Sanders.

“This concerns Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous war on science, public health and the truth itself. It is absurd to have to say this in the year 2025, but vaccines are reliable and beneficial.”