RFK Jr faces calls to quit as CDC chief fired and senior staff resign: ‘an embarrassment’

It’s been a tumultuous week for US health agencies, with the departure of several top officials, uncertainty around new Covid vaccine restrictions, and even more experts calling for the removal of top health official Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, was fired by the Trump White House after some controversy, and four other top officials also resigned.

“[The] CDC basically imploded yesterday and now it’s truly in shambles,” said Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and former senior adviser for the CDC. “This is a national security risk to Americans. Without steady-headed, evidence-informed leadership, everything from outbreaks to data to chronic diseases to injury is in jeopardy.”

Kennedy also released controversial and confusing restrictions on Covid vaccines on Wednesday.

“I’m worried that these confusing changes will cause chaos in the vaccine distribution system that will make it harder for people–even those at high risk of severe illness–to get the Covid vaccines they may want,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University school of public health.

The chaos on Wednesday intensified scrutiny of Kennedy after controversial moves on vaccines and the shooting at the CDC reportedly motivated by anti-vaccine briefs.

Kennedy “has to go”, said Colin Carlson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University’s school of public health, who has joined other health professionals to call for his resignation or termination.

Monarez, who was confirmed as the CDC head only weeks ago on July 31, was released from her post on Wednesday evening per a post on X by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

But lawyers representing Monarez, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, responded in a statement posted to Bluesky that she had neither resigned nor been fired.

“She will not resign,” Zaid wrote.

Monarez had refused to “rubber-stamp reckless, unscientific directives,” the statement said. An hour and a half later, the White House doubled down and said Monarez had officially been fired.

Four other top officials at the CDC also resigned on Wednesday including Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer; Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Jennifer Layden, director of the office of public health data, surveillance and technology.

Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter that he had “never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end”.

Daskalakis, a key figure in the Covid, mpox, and bird flu responses, added that “no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary” – during the worst measles outbreak in the US in decades that left two children and one adult dead.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kennedy announced on X that updated mRNA Covid boosters were being approved for people “at higher risk”. There was no press release from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Pfizer vaccine is approved for anyone who is 5 years old or older with health conditions. The emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine was rescinded, as the Guardian previously reported might happen – which means it is no longer available to children under 5.

The Moderna vaccine is approved for anyone over the age of 6 months with health conditions. That appears to mean there are no Covid vaccines available for children or adults without health conditions, as the summer Covid wave intensifies.

Yet Kennedy also appeared to contradict himself in the post, writing: “These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.”

Kennedy “very much contradicted himself yesterday, making a confusing situation even more confusing”, Jetelina said.

FDA head Marty Makary said on X that any adult may choose to get the Covid vaccine. The officials seem to be referring to a practice known as off-label use, where a physician prescribes a medication for a use other than what it was approved for, Nuzzo said.

“It’s possible for people who are not eligible to get them off label. But whether they will practically be able to do that is another question,” she said.

In some states, pharmacists and other vaccinators are unable to administer vaccines to people who are not explicitly eligible.

“It’s also dubious whether doctors will be willing to vaccinate off label, possibly worrying about legal risks. We’re already hearing about pregnant women being unable to get Covid vaccines after the secretary tweeted,” Nuzzo said.

It’s not yet clear which higher-risk conditions may qualify. The CDC has a list for previous vaccines, but in May top FDA officials proposed a more stringent list of conditions. The proposed list included pregnancy, the recommendation for which Kennedy removed in May.

There is confusion about whether patients may self-attest to a condition or if they need to provide proof – which may make it difficult for pharmacists and other vaccinators to interpret and implement the new rules. These restrictions may also make it harder for people to access the vaccines even when they’re eligible.

“This is another way to reduce access to vaccines: Mass confusion,” Jetelina said.

Usually the CDC’s independent advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) meets to issue recommendations for the updated shots. Right now, the ACIP website lists the August/September meeting as “TBD”. These recommendations affect insurance coverage of the vaccines.

This week’s moves are only part of the bedlam currently within US health agencies.

On Tuesday, Kennedy said in a cabinet meeting that a fast-paced research project on autism was to identify “certain interventions” that are “almost certainly causing autism”. He said these results would be announced in September.

This project, which included the creation of a national research registry of autistic people, has been panned by researchers and advocates as an unscientific attempt to link vaccines to autism.

Last week, the CDC appointed Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan school of management, to lead an ACIP task force on Covid vaccines. Levi has said mRNA vaccines “cause serious harm including death, especially among young people”, adding: “We have to stop giving them immediately!”

Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, called on Wednesday for Kennedy to be fired, writing: “we cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of CDC.”

Kennedy is “an embarrassment to both sides of the aisle”, said Carlson. “Seeing Patty Murray and the American Public Health Association (APHA) come to the same conclusion – that RFK has to go – gives me a lot of hope. Let’s fight. I think we can win.”