9 Ex-CDC Chiefs Sound Alarm on RFK Jr.’s Leadership in Scathing NY Times Op-Ed: ‘Endangering Every American’s Health’
AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.
Nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spanning administrations from President Jimmy Carter to President Donald Trump, joined forces to warn Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is “endangering every American’s health” in a scathing takedown of his actions.
In a joint New York Times op-ed, the former officials wrote that Kennedy’s actions are “unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced.”
Their alarm follows the abrupt firing of CDC director Dr. Susan Monarez.
In attack after attack on the moves made by Kennedy, the authors accused him of pushing harmful views and individuals, warning the impact will be felt by the American people.
“Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused on unproven ‘treatments’ while downplaying vaccines,” the former officials wrote. “He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views.”
They continued: “He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements.”
The authors then rounded on Kennedy’s firing of Dr. Monarez, protesting that just weeks earlier, he had commended her as having “unimpeachable scientific credentials.”
“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,’” the officials wrote. “But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable.”
“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 added.
The intervention cast Kennedy’s tenure as an unprecedented and damaging politicization of public health, and one that risks reversing decades of progress.
“This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings,” the authors warned, urging Congress to step in.
In the face of Kennedy’s tenure, the authors called for others within the public health apparatus to step up and “rally to protect the health of every American.”
“Philanthropy and the private sector must step up their community investments. Medical groups must continue to stand up for science and truth. Physicians must continue to support their patients with sound guidance and empathy,” the article went on.
Americans, the article concluded, “deserve an H.H.S. secretary who stands up for health, supports science and has their back. So, too, does our country.”
