OPINION
Dr. Mandy Cohen had led the CDC under President Biden and left at the end of his term. She had urged the incoming Trump team to use the $ 9 billion annual budget for ongoing disease surveillance, to protect Americans with early warning of new pathogens and public health threats, and she warned that RFK Jr.’ s anti-vaccine proclamations would present a constant, severe threat to the health of both young and old Americans. Sixty percent of the CDC staffers have either doctorates or masters’ degrees in the sciences. She urged the new leadership to follow their evidence-based recommendations. Luckily, out of about 13,000 employees, all but four work under civil service protections. Firing them is very difficult; the process requires specific, extensive documentation, a lengthy appeals process with union and legal representation, and can take years.
Still, immediately on arrival, RFK Jr. directed the CDC to remove the universal recommendation for seven childhood vaccines: rotavirus, influenza, Hep A and Hep B, meningitis, COVID-19 and RSV. He directed that these be reserved for“ high risk individuals” using“ shared decision making.”
He fired the entire membership of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices – the ACIP – and filled it with his sycophants. He canceled all contracts for the ongoing development and manufacture of m-RNA based vaccines, affecting projects totaling nearly $ 500 million. He favors the use of“ whole virus” vaccines; many have been around for years, including the inactivated polio vaccine, some older Hepatis A vaccines, the rabies post-exposure vaccine, the Japanese Encephalitis and Tick-borne Encephalitis vaccines and two Covid vaccines: Sinopharm and Covaxin.
July 2023 and resigned late in 2024. Dr. Susan Monarez succeeded her and was fired by RFK Jr., along with several of her staff, for refusing to use blanket political pre-approvals for vaccine policy changes. She was followed by Mr. Matthew Buzzelli, an attorney who had no healthcare experience. He was succeeded by Jim O’ Neill, the HHS Deputy Secretary, who was tapped to help out while a search for a permanent head took place. CDC staffers noted that Mr. O’ Neill was often absent and his main assistant, a 23-year-old Columbia grad named Sam Beyda, managed the day-to-day affairs. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is the new head but expected to be interim only while the search for a permanent head goes on. He has at least voiced approval of measles vaccines.
One hopes that the premier infection-detecting and epidemic-managing agency in the U. S. gets an experienced, dedicated, energetic and effective leader who believes in vaccinations, infectious disease surveillance, help for HIV patients and coordination once again with WHO – if he or she can convince the White House.
However, I am not holding my breath.
Dr. Barry is an internist and Associate Professor of Medicine( Gratis Faculty) at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, currently retired and mulling her next moves.
The agency has gone through five separate heads since the arrival of RFK Jr. Dr. Mandy Cohen was appointed by President Biden in
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OPINION June 2026 37