Ex-CDC chiefs sound alarm bells over HHS under Kennedy

No fewer than nine former directors of the CDC, serving under both Democratic and Republican presidents, have said every American should be alarmed at what is happening on HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's watch.

In an opinion piece published in the New York Times, they write that Kennedy's actions are "unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced."

They have been prompted to voice their concerns after the ousting of CDC director Susan Monarez, who was appointed by President Trump only to be fired a month later after resisting some of Kennedy's vaccination policies.

They also expressed concern about the dismissal of thousands of other federal health workers, the firing and reconstitution of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, research and public health funding cuts, and support for legislation that will reduce the number of people eligible for Medicaid.

Monarez has refused to step down, much like Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who was also fired by Trump, and both have launched legal challenges against the administration. Meanwhile, several other senior CDC figures have stepped down in support of their former boss, and there was a walkout by hundreds of staffers last week in protest.

Kennedy has been unrepentant, saying after Monarez was fired that there is "a lot of trouble at the CDC and it's going to require getting rid of some people over the long term, in order for us to change the institutional culture."

One of the authors of the piece – Tom Frieden, who was director of the CDC from 2009 to 2017 – wrote in a social media post that "the very systems that protect us from disease, cancer, and future health threats are being dismantled."

He is joined by William Foage (director from 1977 to 1983), William Roper (1990-1993), David Satcher (1993 to 1998), Jeffrey Koplan (1998-2002), Richard Besser (2009), Anne Schuchat (acting director in 2017 and 2018), Rochelle Walensky (2021-2023), and Mandy Cohen (2023-2025).

"When Secretary Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr Monarez on July 31, he called her 'a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.' But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior CDC staff members, he decided she was expendable," they wrote.

"These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a CDC director. Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary's demands, and we applaud Dr Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities."

They have called on Congress to exercise its authority over HHS, for state and local governments to try to plug funding gaps, and for private industry to step up community investments.