Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the leadership overhaul at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during an Aug. 29 FOX News interview, saying the agency is “in trouble” and requires “strong leadership” to advance the Trump administration’s agenda.
The comments came a day after the HHS fired CDC Director Susan Monarez. The New York Times reported Aug. 26 that Monarez had refused Kennedy’s request to resign amid tensions over vaccine policy earlier in the week. Four other senior CDC officials resigned following her ouster, according to The Hill.
In an interview on FOX News’ “Fox & Friends,” Kennedy declined to discuss personnel changes directly but suggested the agency has been plagued by misplaced priorities.
“No, it has not caught us by surprise,” Kennedy said. “Again, I cannot comment on personnel issues, but the agency is in trouble, and we need to fix it — and we are fixing it — and it may be that some people should not be working there anymore.”
Kennedy added that the CDC’s website lists abortion, or what the CDC calls “family planning,” under its “Ten Great Public Health Achievements” of the 20th century.
Other categories include “vaccination,” “fluoridation of drinking water,” “motor-vehicle safety,” “safety workplaces,” “control of infectious diseases,” “decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke,” “safer and healthier foods,” “healthier mothers and babies,” and “recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard.”
Kennedy said, “So we need to look at the priorities of the agency. There’s really a deeply, deeply embedded, I would say malaise at the agency, and we need strong leadership that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump’s broad ambitions.”
The four CDC officials who resigned after Monarez included Deb Houry, the agency’s chief medical officer and deputy director; Demetre Daskalakis, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dan Jernigan, head of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Jennifer Layden, who led the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.
Daskalakis posted his lengthy resignation letter on X Aug. 27. In it, he wrote, “I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people.”
Daskalakis also identified himself as a “trusted voice for the LGBTQ community” and cited “the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations.”
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Author: Elise Winland
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