‘We Need New Blood at CDC’: RFK Defends Agency ‘Shakeup’ 

In a Senate hearing Thursday, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke out about the firings under his leadership, calling them “absolutely necessary adjustments.” 

The Senate Finance Committee called on Kennedy to testify on Trump’s health care agenda writ large. But early questions from senators focused largely on recent news concerning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In late August, the CDC laid off 600 employees, and last week, its director, Susan Monarez, was abruptly fired after less than a month on the job—with resignations from four other senior leaders following soon after.  

Previously, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that creates guidance on appropriate vaccine usage. 

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., interrogated the HHS chief over the advisory committee firings, saying they “stacked the deck” to ensure the committee complied with his wishes.  

But Kennedy disagreed, saying, “I didn’t politicize ACIP [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices]. I depoliticized it.” He added, “Congress has investigated that committee for years because it was invaded by conflicts of interest. … We eliminated those conflicts of interest.” 

Wyden also addressed the broader hirings and firings at the CDC, saying, “Robert Kennedy has elevated conspiracy theorists, crackpots, and grifters to make life-or-death decisions about the health care of the American people.” 

But Kennedy defended his decisions, calling them “absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to the world’s gold standard public health agency with a central mission of protecting Americans from infectious diseases.” 

That’s a responsibility he said CDC “failed … miserably during COVID,” noting that America has roughly 4% of the world’s population but saw 20% of its COVID-19 deaths, despite “unprecedented scientific interventions.” 

Those who oversaw that process “are the people who will be leaving,” he said. “That’s why we need new blood at CDC; that’s why it’s imperative that we remove officials with conflicts of interest and catastrophically bad judgment and political agendas.” 

Kennedy concluded, “We need unbiased, politics-free, transparent, evidence-based science in the public interest. Those are the guiding principles behind the changes at the CDC, and that is what you can expect all across our agency for the next three years.”