Well being specialists stated Kennedy’s ‘repeated efforts to undermine science and public well being’ have left Individuals ‘much less secure’.
Revealed On 4 Sep 2025
Greater than 20 well being teams and medical associations have referred to as on Robert F Kennedy Jr to step down as the USA’ well being secretary, accusing him of placing lives in danger by disregarding many years of lifesaving science and reversing medical progress.
In a joint assertion revealed on Wednesday, the teams – together with the Infectious Illnesses Society of America, the American Public Well being Affiliation, and the American Affiliation of Immunologists – stated Kennedy is forcing Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) specialists to “flip their again on many years of sound science” to additional his agenda.
The teams additionally accused Kennedy of “repeated efforts to undermine science and public well being”, leaving Individuals “much less secure in a large number of how”.
“Our nation wants management that can promote open, trustworthy dialogue, not disregard many years of lifesaving science, unfold misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate packages that preserve us secure,” the assertion stated.
“We’re gravely involved that American folks will needlessly undergo and die on account of insurance policies that flip away from sound interventions,” it added.
The letter comes after a number of former CDC administrators stated final week that Kennedy’s selections are placing Individuals’ well being in danger, after he fired the company’s director, Susan Monarez, lower than a month after she was sworn in.
White Home Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai stated Monarez was not “aligned with” President Donald Trump’s agenda and refused to resign, so the White Home terminated her.
Monarez’s legal professionals stated she had been focused as she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and hearth devoted well being specialists”.
Her departure coincided with the resignations of a minimum of 4 different high CDC officers in response to Kennedy’s affect over the company.
In a social media submit on Wednesday, Kennedy stated his mission was “to revive the CDC’s concentrate on infectious illness” and “rebuild belief via transparency and competence”.
Kennedy – who has lengthy been accused of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation – has made sweeping adjustments to US vaccine insurance policies since being appointed by Trump, inflicting friction with well being officers.
In Could, he withdrew federal suggestions for COVID photographs for pregnant ladies and wholesome kids. In June, he additionally fired all members of the CDC’s skilled vaccine advisory panel and changed them with hand-picked advisers, together with fellow anti-vaccine activists.
In August, he then cancelled practically $500m in funding for mRNA vaccine analysis in a transfer well being specialists stated may make the US far more susceptible to future outbreaks of respiratory viruses.
Kennedy stated the US will shift mRNA funding to different vaccine improvement applied sciences which are “safer” and “stay efficient”.
The Worldwide Vaccine Entry Heart at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being credit mRNA vaccines with stopping thousands and thousands of deaths from COVID-19, saying the progressive expertise has the potential to deal with illnesses reminiscent of most cancers and HIV.
Most not too long ago, on August 20, lots of of federal well being workers wrote to Kennedy imploring him to “cease spreading inaccurate well being data” and for him to both resign or be fired.
Signatories accused Kennedy of “sowing public distrust by questioning the integrity and morality” of the CDC’s workforce, together with by calling the general public well being company a “cesspool of corruption”.