US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday lashed out at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a day after its director was ousted, saying the renowned agency needs to be overhauled.
Appearing on Fox News, Kennedy was asked about a statement from lawyers for fired CDC chief Susan Monarez, which accused him of endangering millions with his anti-vaccine agenda. He used the opportunity to attack the CDC's competence and priorities.
"We saw the misinformation coming out of Covid," he said. "They got the testing wrong. They got the social distancing, the masks, the school closures that did so much harm to the American people today."
Kennedy then pivoted to attack a 1999 report from the CDC's science journal which is still available online, saying it was wrong to list vaccination, water fluoridation and family planning as being among the 10 greatest US public health achievements of the 20th century.
"We need to look at the priorities of the agency," said Kennedy, claiming it suffered from a deeply embedded "malaise" that required "strong leadership" to restore gold-standard science.
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The remarks followed the dramatic removal of Monarez, a career scientist who had held the CDC's top job for less than a month.
"The president fired her, which he has every right to do," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
Monarez's lawyers argue she was improperly dismissed, saying only the president had the authority to remove her, yet the notice came from a White House staffer.
Kennedy's deputy and right-hand man Jim O'Neill, a former technology investor, will be appointed as acting CDC director, the Washington Post reported.
Institutions under attack
For more than 80 years, the CDC has been central to public health, from leading the global campaign to eradicate smallpox to identifying the first clusters of HIV-AIDS and spearheading the fight against smoking.
But health agencies have faced mounting attacks since Kennedy took office.
He disbanded an independent panel of renowned vaccine experts, severely curtailed access to Covid-19 shots, and cut federal funding to mRNA vaccines, the technology credited with saving millions of lives during the pandemic.
The health secretary replaced the panel with a group that included several vaccine sceptics and then he shut the door to several doctors' organisations that had long helped form vaccine recommendations.
He has also announced a government study into the long-debunked "link" between vaccines and autism.
Tensions within the agency have built since a man reportedly motivated by anti-vaccine misinformation opened fire outside CDC headquarters in Atlanta this month, killing a police officer.
Cheers for departing colleagues
An employee union backed Monarez, saying she "chose science over politics".
Several senior officials resigned, including chief medical officer Debra Houry and the head of the national center for immunisation and respiratory diseases, Demetre Daskalakis, who oversaw the mpox response.
On Thursday afternoon, CDC workers held a "clap out" for their departing colleagues, waving signs and cheering as they left the building.
"You are the people that protect America, and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America, and we are going to be your loudest advocates," Daskalakis said to applause, before paying tribute to the slain policeman.
“You cannot dismantle public health and expect it to still work," he said.
Before Monarez, the agency had been without a director since President Donald Trump took office in January.
His original nominee, former congressman and Kennedy ally Dave Weldon, was withdrawn on the morning of his US Senate hearing amid fading political support.
Senators will have the chance to grill Kennedy over the turmoil at a panel next Thursday.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
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