Leaders from across the healthcare industry are responding to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. firing CDC Director Susan Monarez less than a month after she took the role.
HHS announced Monarez’s firing in an Aug. 27 post on X. Following the news, four CDC leaders resigned. Though Monarez had initially refused to step down, with her lawyers saying only the president had the authority to dismiss her, the White House on Aug. 28 named Jim O’Neill, who was HHS’s deputy secretary, as the new CDC director.
Now, healthcare leaders and professional organizations are warning the firing and subsequent resignations threaten US public health and the country’s ability to respond to future infectious outbreaks.
What the industry is saying. A number of major healthcare organizations have made statements in light of Monarez’s firing.
Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association, the country’s largest lobbying group for physicians and medical students, said in an Aug. 28 statement the move was “highly alarming.”
“In the wake of CDC budget cuts and the termination of hundreds of employees earlier this year, the AMA is deeply concerned that this turmoil leaves us highly susceptible to public health threats,” Mukkamala said.
Georges Benjamin, executive director of the professional organization American Public Health Association, called for Kennedy to resign, saying “his actions have sown confusion, demoralized staff, and jeopardized the very foundation of our nation’s health security.”
“What CDC desperately needs now is stability, experienced leadership, and a steadfast commitment to science,” Benjamin added in the Aug. 27 release.
A group of eight physician-led professional organizations also banded together to condemn Monarez’s firing. The American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Osteopathic Association, American Psychiatric Association, and the Society of General Internal Medicine issued a joint statement Sept. 3 saying the “turmoil” at the CDC will “have harmful consequences for the health of the American public.”
Navigate the healthcare industry
Healthcare Brew covers pharmaceutical developments, health startups, the latest tech, and how it impacts hospitals and providers to keep administrators and providers informed.
“As physicians, we are extremely worried that this latest action takes place at the critical start of the flu and respiratory illness season, at a time when we should be increasing access to vaccines and encouraging their use,” the groups said, adding that they have instead received “confusing” and “contradictory” vaccine recommendations.
The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, a trade group that represents public health schools, released a statement Aug. 28 urging Congress to “uphold the CDC’s role as a neutral, science-led institution dedicated solely to the protection and promotion of the public’s health.” The group said the firing and resignations “jeopardize our nation’s ability to respond effectively to ongoing and emerging health threats.”
Additionally, a group of nine former CDC directors and acting directors published an opinion piece in the New York Times on Sept. 1 applauding Monarez for “standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.”
Kennedy’s hearing. Kennedy on Sept. 4 faced a congressional hearing during which senators questioned his actions since taking over the HHS, including changing vaccine recommendations and firing Monarez. In the hearing, Kennedy claimed he fired Monarez because she allegedly told him she was “untrustworthy,” Politico reported.
One day before the hearing, a group of more than 1,000 HHS staffers, both current and former, sent a letter to Kennedy and Congress calling on the secretary to resign.
“We believe health policy should be based on strong, evidence-based principles rather than partisan politics,” the staffers wrote. “But under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS policies are placing the health of all Americans at risk, regardless of their politics.”
Andrew Nixon, HHS’s director of communications, said in a statement sent to Healthcare Brew that restoring the CDC to be “the world’s most trusted guardian of public health” requires “sustained reform and more personnel changes.”