Hundreds of CDC staff gathered in Atlanta on Thursday to support three senior leaders who resigned in protest, calling for an end to political interference in public health. The resignations followed the firing of CDC chief Susan Monarez, who has refused to leave her post. The three leaders—Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, and Daniel Jernigan—resigned together to highlight what they described as the Trump administration's spread of misinformation and political meddling.
At the rally across from the CDC campus, Daskalakis told the crowd: “You are the people that protect America, and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America, and we are going to be your loudest advocates.” The three former officials, along with Jennifer Leyden who led public health data, said they had been discussing the resignations for months and acted together to maximise impact.
Houry, the former chief medical officer, said: “If one of us retired, it would have been a blip. When the three of us do it together, it’s more powerful and just shows the state of our agency.” They are calling on Congress to intervene to stop political interference. The agency is overseen by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who recently restricted Covid vaccine use and removed scientific advisers.
Jernigan said the administration is “trying to undo a lot of the science that has been settled for vaccine policies”. He added: “We need to get the politics out of public health. Until we can do that, ideology will be driving the policies rather than the science.” The turmoil comes as the CDC recovers from a shooting at its Atlanta offices, which killed a police officer. Houry criticised the White House for failing to address the attack, calling it “domestic terrorism”.
