In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will roll chronic disease programs into a new Administration for a Healthy America.
In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bemoaned the U.S.'s response to the COVID-19 outbreak during the first Trump administration, blaming social distancing, school closures and “boosters for healthy children” for the nation’s disproportionate share of the worldwide COVID-19 death toll.
Noting that a diminishing number of adults and children are receiving COVID-19 vaccines, Kennedy wrote that “The American people no longer believe the CDC has their best interests at heart.
“President Trump has asked me to restore that trust and return the CDC to its core mission,” Kennedy continued.
On Aug. 28, CDC director Susan Monarez was fired by the White House after refusing to resign at Kennedy’s behest when she declined to sign off on rescinding approvals for certain COVID-19 vaccines. Since then, multiple doctors, public health experts and current and former government officials have ramped up their criticism of or called for Kennedy’s ouster. That includes Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the ranking member of the Senate’s health committee, who wrote on Aug. 30 in the New York Times that “Kennedy Must Resign.”
Two days later, also in the Times, a series of former CDC directors and acting directors, including Rochelle Walensky, who served under President Joe Biden and and William Roper, who served under President George H. W. Bush, wrote that Kennedy’s policies are hurting the nation.
Due to Kennedy’s policy initiatives, “Residents of rural communities and people with disabilities will have even more limited access to healthcare. Families with low incomes who rely most heavily on community health clinics and support from state and local health departments will have fewer resources available to them. Children risk losing access to lifesaving vaccines because of the cost,” the authors wrote.
In his op-ed, Kennedy blamed chronic diseases for the COVID death toll in the U.S., without citing evidence, and said that he wants the CDC to prioritize infectious disease over other forms of disease control. To that end, he wrote that the CDC should focus on six areas, including detecting disease through surveillance, building infrastructure and modernizing laboratory systems as well as “invest[ing] in workforce.” The CDC will “rebuild the proud tradition of disease detectives, training epidemiologists at home and abroad,” Kennedy wrote.
The CDC has lost about 3,000 employees since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, about one quarter of its total workforce.
Management of chronic disease programs will “migrate” to a new Administration for a Healthy America, Kennedy wrote in his op-ed, without specifying what those programs are and whether they would change in any way.
In conclusion, Kennedy said that he has taken steps to eliminate conflicts of interest and bureaucracy by “shaking up” the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replacing leaders “who resisted reform.” Research has shown that conflicts of interest at the CDC and FDA have been declining for decades.
“Most CDC rank-and-file staff are honest public servants. Under this renewed mission, they can do their jobs as scientists without bowing to politics,” Kennedy wrote.
