'Make America Healthy Again' in danger? Top CDC officials resign, warn RFK Jr.'s public health policies 'will result in death and disability'

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) faced a wave of resignations on Wednesday night after a dramatic clash between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency’s new leadership. Outgoing senior figures accused Kennedy of turning public health into politics, warning his approach “will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”

Vaccine controversy sparks turmoil

The crisis came just after a Daily Beast report claimed the administration is preparing to pull the COVID vaccine from shelves within months. British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, a close ally of Kennedy and adviser to lobby group Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Action, said that several “influential” members of Donald Trump’s family share Kennedy’s belief that vaccines are more dangerous than the virus.

Susan Monarez caught in power struggle

The situation escalated when Susan Monarez, who had been sworn in as acting CDC director only a month earlier, was abruptly removed by the White House. Monarez, however, rejected the decision. Through her lawyers, she insisted she had not resigned and argued that only the president could dismiss her. “As a presidential appointee, Senate-confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” her legal team said. They accused Kennedy of “weaponising public health for political gain” and “putting millions of American lives at risk.”

Wave of resignations follows

Within hours of Monarez’s ousting, at least four senior CDC leaders also resigned. They included Dr Debra Houry, Dr Demetre Daskalakis, Dr Daniel Jernigan, and Dr Jen Layden. In his resignation letter, Daskalakis accused Kennedy of pushing “unscientific” policies. They warned, “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.” He added that the CDC was being used as “a tool” to promote policies that “do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.”

Houry said misinformation and the overstating of vaccine risks had already cost lives, citing the highest number of US measles cases in 30 years and even a violent attack on CDC headquarters earlier this month.

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Daskalakis linked the shooting to years of vaccine scepticism, blaming Kennedy and his allies for fuelling hostility. He said he was resigning to honour his grandfather, who had fought fascism in Greece, and to protest against “the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words… created an environment where violence like this can occur.”