Are Americans at health risk? Ex-CDC chiefs accuse RFK Jr of crippling agency in blistering op-ed; urge Congress to step in

Nine former leaders of the centres for disease control and prevention ( CDC ) launched a scathing attack on health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on Monday, accusing him of undermining science, crippling the nation's top health agency, and "endangering every American's health."

In a guest essay published by The New York Times, the former CDC directors and acting chiefs — who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations — said Kennedy's overhaul of the agency was "unlike anything we had ever seen at the CDC and unlike anything our country had ever experienced."

The essay followed the firing of CDC director Susan Monarez last week, less than a month into her tenure. Kennedy's decision triggered a wave of resignations among senior CDC officials. The White House defended her dismissal, saying Monarez was "not aligned with the President's agenda of Making America Healthy Again," while her lawyers argued she was targeted for refusing to "rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives."

The ex-CDC leaders cited Kennedy's scepticism of vaccines, cuts to state and local health department funding, mass firings of public health staff, and his replacement of qualified experts with "unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views" as deeply damaging to public safety. They said his handling of the worst US measles outbreak in decades underscored the risks.

"These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a CDC director. Not even close," the essay read. "None of us would have agreed to the secretary's demands, and we applaud Dr Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities."

The authors — including William Foege , William Roper , Anne Schuchat, and Biden-era CDC directors Rochelle Walensky and Mandy Cohen — warned that Kennedy's leadership had left the CDC "hurting badly" and unable to fulfil its core mission of protecting Americans from health threats.

While stressing they had not always agreed with past administrations, the former officials pointed to the Trump-era Operation Warp Speed as an example of how HHS could deliver when "health and science are at the forefront."

They urged Congress to exercise its oversight powers and called on state and local governments to step in where federal support has collapsed. "CDC employees deserve a Health and Human Services secretary who stands up for health, supports science and has their back," they wrote. "So, too, does our country."