RFK and Trump attack scientists at the CDC

Bob Sheak, August 31, 2025

It’s likely that most Americans have never heard of the CDC, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, until Robert F. Kennedy, Trump’s appointment to head the Department of Health and Human Services which includes the CDC, wanted the recently appointed director of the CDC, Susan Monarez, fired.

Kennedy asked her to resign because she refused to support his anti-vaccine agenda. She refused, and Trump supported Kennedy by firing her. In this post, I include the highlights of articles reporting on this scandalous issue.

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Washington Post journalists, Lena H. Sun, Dan Diamond, and Lauren Weber, help to clarify what happened (https://washingtonpost.com/health/2025/08/27/susan-monarez-cdc-director-ousted).

“Susan Monarez was confirmed as the CDC’s director in July [2025].” On Wednesday, August 27, the “White House…fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she refused to resign amid pressure to support [Kennedy’s] vaccine policy, which sparked the resignation of other senior CDC officials and a showdown over whether she could be removed. Her lawyers “accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of ‘weaponizing public health for political gain’ and ‘putting millions of American lives at risk’ by purging health officials from government.”

The journalists continue.

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” the lawyers, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, wrote in a statement. “For that reason, she has been targeted.”

Soon after their statement, the White House formally fired Monarez.

“As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an email. “Since Susan Monarez refused to resign…, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.” Her lawyer, Mark S. Zaid rejected this notion, saying that “Monarez never intended to resign, never told anyone that she intended to do so and legally remains in the position because President Donald Trump did not personally fire her.”

Monarez, who was confirmed in late July, was pressed for days by Kennedy, administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines, according to two people with knowledge of those conversations. Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine advocacy, and other officials questioned Monarez on Monday (Aug. 27] on whether she was aligned with the administration’s efforts to change vaccine policy, the people said.

“Kennedy and one of his top advisers, Stefanie Spear, also pushed Monarez to fire her senior staff by the end of this week, according to an administration official and another person with direct knowledge of that conversation.”

Monarez, who was a longtime federal government scientist before Trump nominated her to lead the CDC, declined to commit to support changing coronavirus vaccine policy without consulting her advisers, two people said. That prompted Kennedy to urge her to resign for “not supporting President Trump’s agenda,” one of the people said. Monarez still declined to resign, even though Kennedy wanted that. Trump supported Kennedy and decided to follow his recommendation and fired Monarez.”

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Mary Meyer, MD, MPH, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today, argues that the “The Evisceration of CDC Is a Disaster for All of Us” (https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/117188).

Meyer is an emergency physician with The Permanente Medical Group. She also holds a Master of Public Health and certificates in Global Health and Climate Medicine. Meyer previously served as a director of disaster preparedness for Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Here’s some of what she writes.

“For anyone who missed it, it’s been a whirlwind week at the CDC. Here’s the recap. After 6 months of ‘death by a thousand cuts’ — including layoffs, rescinded grant funding, and content censorship — the CDC descended into chaos on Wednesday [Aug 27].

 “First, CDC Director Susan Monarez, PhD, was fired after refusing to resign . Soon after, three longstanding CDC leaders announced their resignations, citing political interference and pressure to sign off on unscientific vaccine recommendations. A few other high-level departures were also reported earlier this week.” The impact on the CDC, the “nation’s leading public health institution will be far-reaching.” Meyer then offers an explanation on why we need the CDC.

“It’s difficult to exaggerate the role CDC has played in protecting the health of our nation. For nearly 80 years, CDC’s accomplishments have been nothing short of remarkable. In 1951, it presided over the elimination of malaria in the U.S. In 1980, it helped achieved the seemingly impossible — the global eradication of smallpox, a disease that killed a third of its victims and left the majority of its survivors disfigured or blind. A year later, the agency authored the first report of an unusual disease striking gay men in California. For almost 8 decades, CDC pioneered global vaccination campaigns , responded to numerous disease outbreaks    (SARS, Ebola, Zika), and assembled a national network of subject matter experts. Now, with its current leadership vacuum, both CDC and its vast safety net are at risk of collapse.”

Meyer considers why the administration’s attacks on the CDC are disastrous for the health of the nation.

Effects on state and local health departments

“To begin with, approximately 70% of CDC’s funding   goes to state and local public health departments, where it supports workforce training, lab capacity, and public health education. These local departments are the nation’s first line of defense against chronic diseases, environmental exposures, and infectious outbreaks. If their funding becomes compromised, it will undoubtedly lead to cuts in services and staffing, with a concomitant rise in various health conditions and further strain on already-taxed healthcare organizations. Furthermore, these impacts are likely to be greatest in rural and historically underserved areas — the places that can least afford it.”

Effects nationally

Meyer writes: “Nationally, the dysfunction at CDC could easily undermine its programs and trigger a rise in the nation’s overall burden of disease. CDC is the juggernaut of disease prevention. It operates numerous prevention programs aimed at chronic diseases (including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer), infant mortality, microbial resistance, and injuries. It funds programs to combat the tobacco, obesity, and opioid epidemics. It’s been estimated that CDC’s infection prevention guidelines for healthcare facilities save  and $3.3 billion. Its tobacco control program has prevented millions of people from facing the adverse consequences of smoking, and its HIV programs have prevented over 350,000 HIV infections.”

“Then, of course, there’s the role CDC plays in outbreak response, both within U.S. borders and internationally. The agency also serves a vital function in responding to man-made and natural disasters, acting as the national command center in disaster responses.”

Meyer concludes: “We must return to the principles on which CDC was founded: evidence-based policy shepherded by experienced public health leaders.

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Here is what CDC says about its mission and accomplishments (https://cdc.gov/about/cdc/index.html).

“CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

“CDC increases the health security of our nation. As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish our mission, CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats and responds when these arise.”

A sample of the CDC’s accomplishments.

• On the cutting edge of health security – confronting global disease threats through advanced computing and lab analysis of huge amounts of data to quickly find solutions.
• Putting science into action – tracking disease and finding out what is making people sick and the most effective ways to prevent it.
• Helping medical care – bringing new knowledge to individual health care and community health to save more lives and reduce waste.
• Fighting diseases before they reach our borders – detecting and confronting new germs and diseases around the globe to increase our national security.
• Nurturing public health – building on our significant contribution to have strong, well-resourced public health leaders and capabilities at national, state and local levels to protect Americans from health threats.

Further background

Tanja Popovic and Dixie E. Snider Jr. provide an historical sketch of the CDC’s 60 Years of Progress (https://pmc.mcbi.nim.nih.gov/articles/PMC3291076).

“Malaria Control in War Areas was formed in 1942 to ensure that the areas around military bases in the southern United States remained malaria-free. Initial facilities were modest, a few rooms on the sixth floor of the Volunteer Building on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. Hardly anyone could have foreseen the future of this small organization. But Joseph W. Mountin, who was charged with setting it up, was not just anyone. An architect of modern public health, Mountin quickly realized that malaria control operations serving the needs of the states (response to state calls for help, laboratory and epidemiologic investigations, training) could become the foundation for improving the health of the nation.

“…in 1946 the Public Health Service established the Communicable Disease Center to work not only on malaria but on typhus and other infectious diseases. The following year, a token payment of $10 was made for a 15-acre area on Clifton Road to house the operations. In the next 60 years, minor changes were made to the name (Center for Disease Control, Centers for Disease Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), but the initials, CDC, remained the same. The campus on Clifton Road grew to include 2 biosafety level 4 laboratories and other state-of-the-art facilities; operations were established in Morgantown, Cincinnati, Fort Collins, and overseas; and the work expanded to include all infectious diseases, as well as occupational health, toxic chemicals, injury, chronic diseases, health statistics, and birth defects.

“A magnet for gifted scientists and other professionals looking to serve in public health, CDC has attracted an exceptional cadre of talent over the years. Mountin was succeeded by leaders who pushed the agency to new levels of achievement, constantly probing new challenges and seeking new public health solutions. The thousands who work in laboratories and offices or trot the globe on epidemiologic investigations; the physicians, veterinarians, microbiologists, statisticians, economists, social scientists, other scholars, and support personnel; the many volunteers who serve on institutional review and other boards and committees; and CDC’s many partners in academia, industry, clinical practice, and state and local governments all share unequivocal dedication to public health.

“In this climate of idealism and dedication, the achievements have been many and span all areas. CDC scientists, typically working with like-minded colleagues, identified and characterized several infectious agents and emerging infectious diseases; invented devices, tools, and stains for diagnoses and systems for surveillance; demonstrated the value of combining laboratory practices and epidemiology; and through vision and leadership, worked closely with state and local health departments to increase their effectiveness as public health organizations. Some in its midst made such major contributions that microorganisms were named after them (Lee Ajello, Ajellomyces spp.; Dannie Hollis, Vibrio hollisiae; Don Brenner, Neisseria brenneri; Robert Weaver, Neisseria weaveri; Joseph McDade, Legionella micdadei).

“CDC led the US campaign to immunize all children against vaccine-preventable infectious diseases; efforts to ‘link’ states in search of foodborne disease outbreak causes by using molecular approaches to trace the causative organisms (PulseNet); efforts to translate science to practice, protecting women and children from such emerging infection-related conditions as toxic shock syndrome and aspirin-associated Reye syndrome.

“Achievements in international health have been major benchmarks. CDC contributions range from support for and leadership of the global effort to eradicate smallpox to the establishment of Project SIDA in Africa to initiate scientific research on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

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Concluding thoughts

The CDC is an outstanding example of how, over decades, the government has supported the health of the nation’s people. Now, under Trump and Kennedy, the agency is being reduced and compromised. If they have their way, the CDC will be unable to provide the scientific research and breakthroughs it has had for 80 years. As a result, the U.S. population will suffer. The actions of Trump and Kennedy are yet other examples of an administration based on extremist right-wing ideology and growing authoritarianism. It remains to be seen whether the American public will be able to vote them out in the 2026 midterms. Will it be the CDC of the past decades or will it be the Center of Disease.