Three of the nation’s top former CDC officials — Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Dr. Debra Houry, and Dr. Dan Jernigan — issued a stark warning on Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is endangering public health and weakening the scientific foundation of the agency he now leads.
Their comments came just hours before Kennedy was expected to push claims linking Tylenol to autism, amplifying concerns that ideology is overriding evidence-based medicine.
Allegations of Politicized Decision-Making
The officials accused Kennedy of sidelining established scientific processes. Daskalakis cited his resignation over three pivotal issues:
- Altering the COVID-19 vaccine schedule for children and pregnant women without scientific justification.
- Stacking the CDC’s immunization advisory panel (ACIP) with Kennedy-aligned figures.
- Firing former CDC Director Susan Monarez after she resisted directives lacking evidence.
He warned that Kennedy’s rhetoric of “radical transparency” masks an agenda driven by ideology rather than science.
Internal Turmoil at the CDC
Houry described how the agency’s leadership became increasingly politicized, with career experts reduced to “rubber stamps” for policies not grounded in research.
She testified that Kennedy censored science, undermined CDC independence, and placed political appointees in control, prompting her to resign.
Jernigan added that the real danger lies not only in flawed outcomes but in the dismantling of scientific processes themselves.
He criticized Kennedy’s “conclusions-first, data-later” approach, warning that such a framework risks forcing evidence to fit preordained narratives instead of guiding policy decisions.
Broader Implications
The former leaders cautioned that Kennedy’s approach jeopardizes trust in the CDC, compromises children’s health, and erodes America’s preparedness for public health crises.
Their warning underscores a growing alarm within the scientific community that federal health policy is being reshaped around ideology at the expense of rigorous science.
