Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debra Houry said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has caused “irreparable harm” to public health, arguing that public trust in the CDC has fallen sharply under his leadership.
Speaking in an interview aired Sunday on CBS News‘ “Face the Nation,” Houry said confidence in the CDC has dropped by more than 20 percentage points in several public polls, making it difficult for the agency to rebuild credibility. She also said a growing number of states are removing links to CDC guidance and relying on recommendations from other medical organizations.
“When states are removing links to the CDC website and following other medical organizations, I don’t know how you build back that trust overnight,” Houry said.
Trust Under Pressure
Houry served at the CDC for 11 years and resigned in August 2025 after then-CDC Director Susan Monarez was removed following disagreements over vaccine policy. During the interview, Houry said she left because she no longer believed she could protect the agency’s scientific integrity.
She also alleged that political considerations increasingly influenced scientific decisions inside the CDC. According to Houry, career scientists were excluded from key discussions, political appointees without medical or public health backgrounds played a larger role in decision-making, and repeated offers to brief Kennedy on scientific evidence were declined.
Houry further said she documented internal discussions because she was concerned about political interference and wanted to preserve a historical record of how decisions were made.
Policy Changes Drew Scrutiny
Since taking office in February 2025, Kennedy has reshaped the CDC by replacing members of its vaccine advisory committee and revising childhood immunization recommendations. In March, a federal judge blocked the appointment of more than a dozen new advisory panel members and halted implementation of the revised vaccine schedule.
During the interview, Houry also criticized changes to vaccine messaging, the removal of public health webpages following executive orders, and the suspension of the CDC’s “Wild to Mild” flu vaccination campaign during one of the country’s worst flu seasons in years. She argued that scientific evidence was repeatedly overridden by political priorities.
The interview follows weeks of growing scrutiny over Kennedy’s leadership of federal health agencies. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently released internal CDC emails provided by Houry that he said showed political interference in vaccine policy and public messaging.
Separately, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the Senate Health Committee and one of the key Republican votes behind Kennedy’s confirmation, accused the HHS secretary of breaking commitments made during his confirmation process regarding vaccine policy and public health messaging.
Houry said restoring confidence in the CDC will take years, warning that declining trust in public health institutions could have lasting consequences for future disease outbreaks and vaccination efforts.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
