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Ex- top officials from the CDC have accused Robert F Kennedy Jr of hobbling the nation’s capacity to respond to disease surges and public health threats.

Statements Before Senate Committee

A pair of ex- officials spoke at a session in front of the Senate HELP committee on midweek. Susan Monarez, the agency head selected by Kennedy, was fired after less than a month. Debra Houry, chief medical officer at the CDC, resigned after serving under six CDC leaders during both GOP and Democratic administrations.

Allegations of Coercion and Meddling

On August 25, Kennedy reportedly insisted that Monarez “commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation, regardless of the scientific evidence”, she testified. He also instructed her to fire longtime staff responsible for vaccine policy without justification, she added.

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

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

“He labeled, in that context, CDC the most unethical federal agency in the world. He stressed that CDC employees were terrible people. He claimed that CDC employees were harming children, and they don’t care.”

Risk to Vaccine Access

Monarez went on to say that based on her observations, “there is a real risk that recommendations could be made limiting access to vaccines for minors and individuals in need, absent rigorous scientific review. With no full-time CDC director in place, those decisions could be implemented.”

She continued: “The consequences are not hypothetical. We already have seen the largest measles outbreak in more than 30 years, which took the lives of two children. If vaccine safeguards are weakened, avoidable diseases will return.”

Also on August 25, Monarez said Kennedy told her “the childhood vaccine schedule would be adjusted starting in September, and I needed to be on board with it”. She claimed Kennedy had the support of the Trump White House, with Kennedy claiming to her that “he spoke to the President every day about altering the childhood vaccine schedule”.

ACIP Session and Concerns

The CDC’s vaccine expert panel, ACIP, which has been substituted with Kennedy’s handpicked advisers, is set to meet on later this week. Bill Cassidy, a GOP lawmaker from Louisiana who leads the committee, lately called for an delay of the ACIP meeting.

“If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the gravity of the accusations and the current instability in CDC leadership,” Cassidy, who is a doctor, remarked.

ACIP will reportedly take up a decision on the existing 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 said. “I have seen people die from hepatitis.”

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

“Now that we’ve managed it, do we let the genie out of the bottle if the recommendation is removed?” Cassidy asked.

Ideological Influence and Suppression

Debra Houry also stated to seeing political interference and said she “quit because CDC leaders were demoted to automatic approvals, backing policies not based in science, and endangering 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 interim because experienced staff have been fired, quit or retired, Houry said.

Threats and Security Issues

These historic changes come as the CDC and its employees face violence and intimidation. On 8 August, a shooter fired more than 500 rounds on the CDC headquarters, with 180 bullets hitting the building. Houry said her staff was “deeply affected”.

Kennedy did not contact Monarez after the shooting, Monarez stated. Such hostility following decades of misinformation and targeting of health experts has sweeping repercussions. Some CDC staff will now not put their names on research papers on vaccines to safeguard themselves and their families.

Leadership Failure and Public Health Risk

Houry initially discovered that Kennedy had changed the CDC’s Covid vaccine guidance in a Twitter/X post.

“CDC scientists have yet not seen the research evidence or justification for this change,” she emphasized.

Houry stated that she has never briefed 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 claimed things like vaccines had fetal parts, and I had to send a note to our leadership team to correct 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 was no evidence for that and would cause harm.”

The new limitations on Covid vaccines have led to chaos with the updated vaccine rollout, 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 shared.

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

“That kind of last-minute alteration erodes confidence and the discussions that follow,” Houry said.

The vaccine advisers eventually voted to ban 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 “concerned about the future of CDC and public health in our country.

“We are not ready, not just for pandemics, but for preventing long-term illness, and we’re going to see kids dying of vaccine-preventable diseases,” she continued.

Conclusion

Kennedy said in the finance committee hearing that Monarez told him she was not reliable. Monarez then said in Wednesday’s hearing: “He claimed he could not trust me because I had disclosed 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 details of Monarez’s and Houry’s departure, said senator Bernie Sanders.

“It is about Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous war on science, public health and the truth itself. It is ridiculous to have to say this in the year 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective.”