The CDC Has Left The Building, Now What?

©2025 T. Agnew-craiyon.com

Americans should be alarmed. All of these moves leave us less safe, and it comes at a time of rising public health threats. — Nirav Shah, former principal deputy director at CDC

I kept my pace intense on the forest trail on a recent morning, hiking along the Chattahoochee River along Island Ford in Georgia. Deer scattered, and a gorgeous hawk drifted over my head and across the canopy. After a recent bout with acute bronchitis that lasted nearly two weeks, my lungs felt nearly restored.

During my illness, I had ample time to ponder the United States’ fractured healthcare system, a system I worked in for decades. The U.S. healthcare industry had always been an incompetent disarray, but now it's truly fractured and precarious.

As I hacked and wheezed and blew my nose, I thought about our future in healthcare. We might not have the choice to seek vaccines as a prevention, because this regime has zeroed everything out. If nothing changes, we will be a very sick nation.

As a science writer who researches health-related statistics, and as an advocate for better health through science for my entire life, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent decisions baffle me.

I’m not alone. Over twenty different medical scientists have insisted that RFK Jr. resign. The evidence is clear — at least to those who understand science does not make fake news — and the evidence is frightening. Some of RFK Jr.’s decisions impact:

• Reduced vaccine coverage for some vaccines (boosters, childhood) if cost, recommendations, or insurance change.

• Increased public confusion / mistrust in public health guidance, especially around vaccines and outbreaks.

• Shifts in funding (research) away from cutting-edge vaccine tech (e.g. mRNA).

• More policy debate over pharmaceutical regulation, drug advertising, insurance coverage.

• Increased outbreak risk (measles, flu, etc.) if vaccine uptake drops (this is already occurring).

• Weakening of emergency preparedness may lead to slower responses to novel threats.

• Innovation in vaccine R&D may slow, or investors may pull back if government funding becomes uncertain.

• Disparities may deepen: marginalized communities will experience confusion, lower coverage, resource cuts. The government has already reduced Medicare funds.

Make America Sick Again?

RFK Jr. ’s motto is “make America healthy again,” supposedly to improve the lives of Americans. Yet he fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, PhD, only 29 days into her tenure. His reasoning to Congress? It was because she admitted she wasn’t “trustworthy,” yet, in July, he’d cited her credentials “unimpeachable.”

Monarez rightly declined the Director’s request to pre-approve all vaccine recommendations because it could impact the ability of children to access lifesaving vaccines. It was an honorable move.

I refused to do it because I have built a career on scientific integrity, and my worst fear was that I would then be in a position of approving something that would reduce access to lifesaving vaccines to children and others who need them. — CDC Director Susan Monarez

Since February, RFK Jr. eliminated positions and vital health programs at the CDC, NIH, and FDA, while dismissing all seventeen members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Instead, he’s enlisted several well-known vaccine pessimists to help decide the future of vaccine research and the direction of healthcare.

Kennedy ended CDC recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant women and children, and even more distressing, that the FDA restrict use to older adults and high-risk groups (my doctor said I do not qualify for a COVID booster).

It’s hard to conceive that a Secretary of Health, responsible for the wellbeing of a nation, does not know how many people died during the COVID-19 pandemic when asked.

The most profound concern? RFK Jr. dismisses the volumes of recent vaccine research from the world’s top scientists.

Even more dire, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is shifting to wipe out every vaccine mandate in his state. Let me be clear: that decision means there will be more disease, and kids will die.

But scientific integrity does not lie.

We are fighting back, with governors joining forces to deliver unified, evidence-based guidance on immunization. In Washington, bipartisan parties lambasted Kennedy for creating confusion and fear — applauding Operation Warp Speed (a public–private partnership created by the United States government to facilitate distribution of COVID-19 vaccines). 

The next step is to fight RFK Jr.’s blocking of COVID-19 vaccine access and the freezing nearly $500 million in mRNA research funding.

The CDC History

The CDC — known first as the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas (MCWA) — started with just 400 employees and a budget of $10 million (for fiscal year 2024, the CDC budget was about $11.58 billion).

The CDC remains a behemoth to most other countries in size and funding ($11B vs. $70M for European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), with only the China CDC comparable in staffing scale, but not budget.

While the CDC revolves around an intense political environment (budget depends on Congress, etc.), other countries suffer from the same, with caveats related to their governmental structure. Yet, other countries don’t question science data, and don’t condone conspiracy theories.

I worry about our medical institutions having to take care of sick kids that could have been prevented by effective and safe vaccines. I worry about the future of trust in public health. — Susan Monarez

Even in political chaos, the first mission of the CDC was to eradicate malaria in the U.S. It succeeded by 1951. Because of the CDC and science, they contained the smallpox epidemic of 1967 and the 1976 deadly Ebola outbreak.

In the 1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic positioned the CDC at the cusp of U.S. and global health response. Again, they saved lives.

In 1979, the U.S. reported its last naturally occurring polio case (an outbreak among unvaccinated Amish communities in Pennsylvania) thanks to the polio vaccine (IPV).

Today, polio is recurring in the United States, mainly because of vaccine-hesitant communities — now influenced by the CDC chaos, vaccine deniers that sit on its board, and false social media feeds (just today, recent polio cases appeared in my county).

Scientists must always reevaluate data and conduct ongoing studies, especially with new viruses and diseases. Yet, all of this seems impossible now, unless legislation steps in.

I implore you to ignore healthcare “advice” you see on social media feeds. If you have concerns about a vaccine, ask your physician — she can honestly advise you.

Remember, families need to get the most recent, unbiased information on vaccines to make the best decisions for their children.

Vaccines work. Let them.