Public Health Professionals, Groups Demand Resignation of HHS Secretary RFK Jr.
Following the recent firing of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D. and the subsequent resignation of three top CDC officials, public health and food safety professionals are calling for the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Known for his increasingly controversial "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda, the signatories of two letters, comprising thousands of public health professionals spanning dozens of stakeholder groups and federal agencies, argue that Secretary Kennedy is doing the opposite of making America healthy, making his resignation as Health Secretary necessary.
Two Letters, One Demand: Secretary Kennedy Must Step Down for the Good of U.S. Public Health
In a September 3 joint statement, 22 national medical, scientific, public health, and patient organizations insisted on Kennedy’s resignation “to restore the integrity, credibility and science-driven mission of HHS and all its agencies.”
The statement said, “Forcing high-level CDC expert leaders to turn their back on decades of sound science to meet Kennedy’s agenda puts us all at risk. This final exclamation point on a term defined by repeated efforts to undermine science and public health definitively leaves Americans less safe in a multitude of ways”—including food safety.
According to the statement, under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the U.S. has been left with a reduced capacity to protect the public from foodborne illness, including a drastic reduction in the number of infections monitored and a resulting increased risk of foodborne illness. The 22 groups also said that diagnostic testing, disease surveillance, emergency response, and state and local health department capabilities have been affected, among other areas.
Additionally, in another letter dated September 3, more than 1,000 professionals representing 14 federal public health agencies—including CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—also called for the resignation of Secretary Kennedy. The letter said Secretary Kennedy continues to endanger the nation’s health by facilitating the firing of the Senate-confirmed CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, and causing the resignations of important CDC leaders, as well as “appointing political ideologues who pose as scientific experts and manipulate data to fit predetermined conclusions,” among other actions.
The letter was prompted by an August 8, 2025 attack on CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, after which more than 6,000 signatories urged Secretary Kennedy to “cease endangering the nation’s health by spreading inaccurate health information, affirm CDC’s scientific integrity, and guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce.” Although the original letter went unanswered by Secretary Kennedy directly, HHS released a statement accusing the signatories of “politicizing a tragedy.”
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“We warn the President, Congress, and the Public that Secretary Kennedy’s actions are compromising the health of this nation, and we demand Secretary Kennedy’s resignation,” the letter said.
Loss of Top CDC Officials, Food Safety Program Cuts Under Secretary Kennedy’s Leadership
Prior to the release of the September 3 letters, Dr. Susan Monarez was fired as CDC Director after a social media showdown on August 27. Her departure from CDC was shortly followed by the resignation of three top CDC officials, including Dan Jernigan, M.D., former Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), which is responsible for tracking foodborne illness outbreaks, zoonotic diseases, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Dr. Monarez’s refusal to fire Dr. Jernigan and two others—namely, Debra Houry, M.D., former Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director of Programs and Science, and Demetre Daskalakis, M.D., former Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases—at the request of Secretary Kennedy is said to be one of the reasons for her termination, in addition to her disagreement with RFK Jr.’s vaccine policies and his stance on the role of vaccines in causing autism.
Also coming to light shortly before the release of the September 3 letters, CDC quietly slashed the number of foodborne pathogens monitored under the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) surveillance program from eight to two. Experts worry that the cuts to FoodNet may compromise public health officials’ ability to recognize when cases of illness related to a certain pathogen begin to rise, hindering foodborne illness outbreak response. Accurate analysis of trends over time may also be impacted.
FoodNet was impacted by inadequate funding, per CDC. Since the inauguration of President Trump and appointment of RFK Jr. as Health Secretary, the agency has been on the receiving end of significant workforce and budget cuts, including the dismissal of more than 2,000 staffers.
