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Ex- top leaders from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have accused Robert F Kennedy Jr of weakening the country’s capacity to respond to outbreaks and medical threats.

Statements Before Senate Panel

Two ex- agency leaders testified at a session in front of the Senate HELP panel on midweek. Susan Monarez, the agency head selected by Kennedy, was fired after less than a 30 days. Debra Houry, chief medical officer at the CDC, stepped down after working under multiple CDC directors during both GOP and Democrat administrations.

Allegations of Coercion and Meddling

On 25 August, Kennedy reportedly demanded that Monarez “agree in advance to endorsing every ACIP guideline, regardless of the research data”, she stated. He also instructed her to fire career staff responsible for vaccine policy without cause, she added.

“He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should step down. I replied that I could not pre-approve recommendations without examining the evidence, and I had no basis to fire research professionals,” Monarez thinks that’s the true reason she was terminated.

Kennedy was “very upset” and “agitated” in their discussion. He referred of the CDC and its employees in a “hurtful and disparaging” way, Monarez testified.

“He called, in that context, CDC the most unethical government body in the world. He stressed that CDC employees were terrible people. He claimed that CDC employees were harming children, and they aren’t concerned.”

Risk to Immunization Access

Monarez went on to say that based on her observations, “exists a real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for minors and individuals in need, without thorough scientific review. With no full-time CDC director in place, those recommendations could be adopted.”

She continued: “The consequences are not hypothetical. We have already seen the biggest measles outbreak in over 30 years, which took the lives of two children. If vaccine protections are undermined, avoidable diseases will recur.”

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

Vaccine Committee Session and Worries

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

“If the meeting proceeds, any guidelines made should be dismissed as without legitimacy given the gravity of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership,” Cassidy, who is a physician, said.

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

“People know I’m a physician – as it turns out I am a hepatologist,” Cassidy said. “I have seen people succumb from hepatitis.”

Over 90% of children exposed at birth develop lifelong infections and risk hepatic malignancy, he added.

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

Ideological Influence and Censorship

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

Approximately 80% of department heads are now interim because experienced staff have been fired, resigned or retired, Houry explained.

Threats and Security Issues

These historic changes come as the CDC and its employees face violence and intimidation. On 8 August, a gunman 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 following the shooting, Monarez stated. Such hostility following decades of false claims and harassment of scientific officials has sweeping repercussions. Some CDC staff will now not put their names on research papers on vaccines to safeguard themselves and their families.

Leadership Breakdown and Public Health Danger

Houry first learned 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 testified that she has never informed the secretary, nor have her center directors – even as the most severe measles outbreak in decades unfolded. She also objected on inaccurate claims 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 a steroid and an antibiotic 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 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 said.

The HHS also interfered 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 said.

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

The vaccine advisers eventually 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 “concerned 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 responded in Wednesday’s hearing: “He told me 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 issue 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 harmful 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.”