“At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn”

Yves here. We hope that readers will treat this post as an exercise in how to parse messaging. It’s becoming more and more evident that news reporting and social media are exacerbating polarization in America. One method is reinforcing belief clusters and treating people as if they must hew to the full set of views of one camp or the other. Today’s object lesson is RFK Jr.’s campaign to bring CDC practice into line with his anti-vax, MAHA views.

One technique both camps in this debate rely on heavily is halo effect, that people or situations are regularly seen as all good or all bad. Pretty people are viewed as more intelligent.

Here, the RFK, Jr. critics have a strong case in demonizing his claims about aluminum in vaccines being harmful. If HHS or CDC were to act on that view and require reformulation, many vaccines would become more costly or even be pulled from the market. It does not mention that the autism-obsessed RFK, Jr. is cancelling research into possible environmental causes of autism, which unlike his smearing of vaccines, could make a difference. Autism does not result from post-birth activities; it’s genetic and may also be the result of in-utero exposures.

But this piece engages in the tribalism, as the headline makes clear, of making this controversy about science, or “the science”. But medicine is not very scientific. As a friend, biomedical engineer, daughter of a doctor, whose first job was at the NIH said, “Medicine is a medieval art.” Many things that are critical to health, such as the impact of diet, are very difficult to study save at a very crude level due to the impossibility of collecting good enough data over long enough periods of time.

A related issue is that the tradition of the doctor in the white lab coat is specifically to identify the practitioner with science. Doctors play God, after all. On some deep level, they may not only need to bolster patient confidence but also their own..

And where medicine can be the most scientific, namely in drug development and trials, it too often isn’t due to the way Big Pharma games data to understate harm or presents findings to doctors based on small samples to suggest off-label uses that may not be all that beneficial.

And then add in the bias in American medicine is to over-test and over-treat in an already very high cost system. Add the response of overwhelmingly corporatized practices is to reduce patient face time with his GP, further eroding the foundation of trust. So corrosive force were in play even before the Covid vaccine credibility debacle.

This piece is anchored in the controversy over the RFK, Jr. wanting mRNA vaccines taken off the market, and the firing of recently-installed CDC director Susan Monarez. The article depicts that action as the result of Monarez refusing to implement directives coming from RFK, Jr. that she regarded as unscientific. I must admit to not having followed this fight closely but I have not yet seen what the bones of contention were.

But the piece takes the implicit position that any questioning of the benefits of the Covid mRNA vaccines is crank-dom. Let us not forget, as KLG recently reminded us, that trying to find a vaccine for a cornoavirus was a lost cause. They mutate too quickly. The best hope might be a nasal vaccine but even then immunity would not be very durable. And that problem is now made worse with the frequency of Covid mutations.

It also fails to acknowledge that the vaccines did do harm to some, and we have no idea how much or to how many, due to many bona fide submissions to the VAERS database being rejected and many not being made (I guarantee my case wasn’t). So how can those who wrap themselves in the mantle of science do so in the light of a willful failure to collect critically important information?

Another issue is class signaling. It’s become common in the corporate and political world to admit no error, even though the famed Tylenol tampering case shows the best posture is to come clean and quickly engage in remediation. Similarly, McKinsey found that the companies that had the highest customer satisfaction scores were not the ones that had the fewest screw-ups, but the ones that took consistent, fast action to correct problems.

Instead, we have elites on both sides of the fence, the professional-managerial class and those that challenge them, both taking absolute positions and not being willing to concede where they are off base.

By Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News senior health policy correspondent, who previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Des Moines Register, and the Daily Tribune in Ames, Iowa. Originally published at KFF Health News

Public health and access to lifesaving vaccines are on the line in a high-stakes leadership battle at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to fire CDC director Susan Monarez is more than an administrative shake-up. The firing marks a major offensive by Kennedy to seize control of the agency and impose an anti-vaccine, anti-science agenda that will have profound effects on the lives and health of all Americans, public health leaders say.

Kennedy wants to see the Pfizer and Moderna messenger RNA-based covid-19 vaccines pulled from the market, according to two people familiar with the planning who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the press. He’s also set his sights on restricting or halting access to some pediatric immunizations, some public health leaders say.

His actions have already reduced federal help to states, creating the potential for more infectious disease outbreaks and incidences of foodborne illness. Some public health leaders say they expect Kennedy will use the CDC to publicize health information that isn’t grounded in science.

“It’s crazy season,” said Richard Besser, former acting CDC director during the Obama administration. “People want information they can trust to make critical decisions about their health. Until now, we’ve been able to say look at the CDC. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do that anymore.”

HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard disputed the criticism.

“Secretary Kennedy remains firmly committed to delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again, dismantling the failed status quo that fueled a nationwide chronic disease epidemic and eroded public trust in our public health institutions,” Hilliard said in a statement.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Kennedy and Commissioner of Food and Drugs Marty Makary have reiterated that covid shots will remain available for Americans who need and want them.

“The Trump administration is restoring Gold Standard Science as the sole guiding principle of health decision-making,” Desai said in an email. “Only the Fake News could ignore these facts to continue pushing Democrat talking points and hysteria.”

The shake-up began last week, when Kennedy sought to fire Monarez, a microbiologist who’d just been confirmed by the Senate in July. She refused to leave the position, and her lawyers said Kennedy sought to oust her because she wouldn’t fire senior staff or follow unscientific directives. Four top career officials at the CDC resigned on Aug. 27 in protest.

Career staffers at the CDC and some public health groups had hoped President Donald Trump would intervene and put the brakes on Kennedy. Instead, the White House backed Kennedy, saying Monarez was fired.

Trump on Sept. 1 demanded that drug companies show that covid vaccines work, in a further sign he’s not set on defending the shots.

“I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as ‘BRILLIANT’ as many say it was. If not, we all want to know about it, and why???” Trump said on Truth Social.

Operation Warp Speed was the initiative that Trump himself announced in 2020 to accelerate the development of covid vaccines, including the Pfizer and Moderna shots. The vaccines have proved safe and effective in multiple clinical trials; a study published in JAMA Health Forum estimated that they saved about 2.5 million lives worldwide.

CDC staffers are worried the agency’s next director won’t fight for science, according to an employee who asked not to be identified for fear of professional retaliation.

Trump’s support for Monarez’s ouster was a watershed moment that signaled there are no checks on Kennedy and his agenda, public health advocates say. Leading congressional Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Kennedy’s firing. Hundreds of HHS staffers have also implored Congress to intervene, saying Kennedy threatens science and public health. He is slated to testify Sept. 4 before the Senate Finance Committee.

Kennedy said in a message to CDC staff that his focus is on boosting the agency’s reputation and leadership. The Atlanta-based agency was already reeling after the Trump administration pushed out thousands of its staff and a gunman who reportedly believed the covid vaccine had caused him health problems fired hundreds of rounds at its campus last month, killing a police officer.

“The CDC must once again be the world’s leader in communicable disease prevention. Together, we will restore trust,” Kennedy wrote. “Together, we will rebuild this institution into what it was always meant to be: a guardian of America’s health and security.” He said his deputy, Jim O’Neill, would serve as acting CDC director.

Nine former CDC directors or acting directors who served under both Republicans and Democrats criticized Kennedy in the aftermath of the Monarez firing, saying in an op-ed in The New York Times that the impact on public health is “unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.”

HHS spokesperson Hilliard took exception with this point, listing four covid vaccines that continue to get the nod for use.

However, the Food and Drug Administration last

week approved updated covid mRNA boosters only for people 65 or older and others at high risk of complications. The CDC has also stopped recommending the shots for healthy children and pregnant women. Previously, the shots had been advised for anyone 6 months or older.

As a result, many people who don’t meet the criteria but want the vaccine will have to get prescriptions or consult with their doctors. Insurance may not always cover the shots, which can run around $200. Major drugstores such as Walgreens and CVS have said the shots may not be available at all pharmacies and may require a prescription.

The American Academy of Pediatrics on Aug. 19 broke with the administration, recommending that all young children get the covid vaccine. Insurance still may not cover the cost in some cases and parents could face obstacles in getting the vaccines without a prescription.

Next Move: The Advisory Committee

Kennedy and his team changed official covid vaccine recommendations even though there have been no new safety issues. A dose of the 2023-24 covid mRNA vaccine prevented significant illness and death across all age groups, according to a study published in August led by a University of Michigan researcher. The virus killed about 1,000 people a week in the U.S. in mid-January, and cases are rising again and expected to accelerate this winter.

Kennedy has handpicked a vaccine advisory committee for the CDC that is reviewing mRNA-based covid vaccines, which he falsely claimed in 2021 were “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” The covid vaccine review is being led by Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has said without evidence that the shots cause serious harm, including death. If the committee recommends against them, Kennedy and the FDA could then begin the process of removing them from the market.

Taking mRNA-based covid shots off the market would leave consumers with fewer options for protection. Paxlovid, an antiviral medication that treats the infection in high-risk adults, would be available.

The CDC advisory committee reviewing the covid shots is also probing a long-debunked link between aluminum, used in many childhood immunizations such as those for hepatitis A and pneumonia, and autism or allergies.

The group’s findings are expected to support the erroneous link, some public health officials say. HHS could then require drugmakers to undertake costly reformulations of the shots or stop manufacturing them altogether.

“That would set up the elimination of all childhood vaccines,” Besser said.

The advisory group’s next meeting is set for Sept. 18, although Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has called for the meeting to be indefinitely delayed. Cassidy, a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, voted for Kennedy’s confirmation as HHS secretary after receiving assurances, he said, that the longtime vaccine opponent wouldn’t disrupt the U.S. vaccination system. Kennedy’s promises, Cassidy said, included that he wouldn’t change the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Kennedy removed all of the panel’s members in June and replaced them with his own appointees, including anti-vaccine activists.

Kennedy’s move to put his stamp on the CDC means states that have long relied on the agency’s expertise and help in crises such as disease outbreaks will largely be left to fend for themselves, said Ashish Jha, who served as President Joe Biden’s covid response coordinator from 2022 to 2023.

“States are going to be left on their own,” Jha said. “States will struggle with the CDC incapable and dysfunctional. Our system is not designed for states to go it alone.”

The CDC typically plays a critical role by assisting states with disease surveillance, public health interventions, and outbreak response, especially when a crisis spills across state lines. An outbreak of measles this year led to more than 1,400 cases nationwide, and states including Texas, where the outbreak was identified, struggled to get help from the CDC.

A CDC program that has long tracked pathogens in food has already reduced the number of hazards it looks for from eight to two, which public health leaders say is making it harder to identify outbreaks. Staff overseeing a CDC program that tracks outdoor pollution that can exacerbate asthma also have been cut.

The agency runs a hotline that doctors around the country can call to get treatment and other types of advice. Under Kennedy’s watch, the CDC has had to pare assistance because of staffing reductions, said Wendy Armstrong, vice president at the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

“Lives are 100% at stake, no question about it,” Armstrong said. “That you can no longer trust the recommendations out of the CDC is just devastating. It’s appalling to think we can’t trust that information is science-based anymore.”

Kennedy wants to shake up CDC leadership because he sees the agency as the heart of corruption and resistance within the federal health bureaucracy, according to people familiar with his planning. Kennedy has said the agency suffers from malaise and bias.

Many public health leaders, however, view the CDC as under siege by an administration they say is corrupting science for its own ends. HHS staffers signed onto a letter that now has more than 6,800 signatures, saying Kennedy is “endangering the nation’s health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information.”

Kennedy has also been fending off mounting criticism of his response to the shooting at the CDC’s headquarters. He responded to the attack on social media, hours later, after first posting pictures of himself fly-fishing.

Some younger staffers are considering leaving and some workers feel like the shooting accelerated Kennedy’s overhaul of the agency, the CDC employee said.

With the battle for control of the CDC still raging, public health leaders are now looking to Congress to put the brakes on Kennedy. Some Republican lawmakers have called for a review of Kennedy’s actions.

“These high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee,” Cassidy said Aug. 27 on the social platform X. Cassidy had backed Monarez to lead the agency.

Renuka Rayasam, KFF Health News senior correspondent, and Andy Miller contributed to this article.

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20 comments

  1. Tempestteacup

    In addition to the halo effect, this article also embodies the extreme, amnesiac recency bias that is another hallmark of what in England would be called Punch and Judy politics.

    The dodgy, heavily politicised use of CDC as an instrument of White House policy was well in evidence under Joe Biden. This site rigorously documented the contradictory advisories and the ways then-CDC director ginned up reports to suit then-political agenda focused on keeping schools open and getting people back to work.

    While I agree that ‘the science’ is a tiresome construct that poorly serves a discipline in which circumspection and doubt are meant to be key elements, I do think that both Dems and Republicans have demonstrated increasing willingness to abandon even established, scientifically based standards of for example public health in their drive for profits, growth, wharever it might be. To my mind at least, it is of a piece with the philistinism that is also a hallmark of both modern wings of American capitalism and expresses itself in the extremely straitened circumstances of previously important cultural institutions as well as the debased character of most contemporary culture in general.

    And yes I know that makes me sound like an old snob. But I’m not that old, and the snob part I can live with!

    Reply
  2. IM Doc

    I think we should observe what is going on in other countries that are our peers in the advanced world.

    There are multiple countries whose public health entities have evaluated COVID vaccines and have quite significantly curtailed their use.

    There are multiple countries whose public health entities have disallowed the administration of Hep B vaccines on minute 1 of life.

    I can go on and on.

    In other countries, these deliberations and directives are accepted without much issue. In this country, even the thought of open discussion of these issues is met with rounds of Hoo-Hoo, name calling, screaming, tantrums, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. And lots of fear mongering on national TV. Ad hominem attacks like what is being done now do nothing but identify those doing the screaming as losers already having lost. This is much more keenly true in our current environment when the same actors have foolishly flushed away generations of trust. That trust is now officially gone…..and when the average American is looking at this play out, they are mostly equating current CDC wailers the same as their preschoolers. I hear this from patients all day long. This is most definitely not the CDC of the past which showed itself well during AIDS and Ebola and others.

    I think contemplation in this area is likely to yield answers for our country. Is this about real science – contemplation, argument, hypothesis, free and open communication……or is this about “the science”, top down directives, control, power, censorship and cancelling of dissent, and most importantly streams of lucre of billions?

    It is time to reinsert the scientific method into our public health. Having public health disallow visiting dying grandma because of a pandemic while allowing BLM riots to occur has taken its toll. Arresting surfers while enjoying French Laundry dinners has take its toll. Having the CDC director of vaccines talk about the value of monkeypox vaccines as allowing the freedom to have orgies of multiple partners all the while stating that HIV is not something to be afraid of has taken its toll. Time is now up. Public health and our agencies have been far too long controlled by other less noble forces – greed, pride, and wrath, and “the science”. A different approach is in the way.

    I for one am sick and tired of it. And here is the thing……unless and until real science makes an appearance, way more than half this country are done with the current state of affairs. They are paying thousands yearly in premiums and taxes and this bunch of hucksters is what they get? I hear it all day and every day. The very future of public health and medicine depend on a reckoning.

    I have been watching this play out for decades. I have begged my colleagues to straighten up. I have warned them that time is drawing down for us to clean up our own act. If we did not, someone else would do it for us and it would not be pleasant. And here we are.

    Reply
    1. Gulag

      So many insightful comments in your post that get to the real heart of this situation:

      “The trust is officially gone.”
      “way more than half the country are done with the current state of affairs”
      “The very future of public health and medicine depend on a reckoning.”
      “…or is this about “the science” topdown directions, control, power, censorship, and the canceling of dissent and most importantly streams of lucre…”

      For our public health experts, it is the painful acceptance of your comment that “…those doing the screaming are losers who have already lost.” That acceptance of current reality is the most agonizing and the most humbling.

      Once that kind of acceptance individually occurs, the road to self-examination of one’s own motives for what happened can potentially begin.

      At that point, doubling down is also very emotionally attractive but that stance only seems to ensure a greater and more painful defeat.

      In my own life, the acceptance of defeat was the pathway to a somewhat different me.

      Reply
  3. dave

    Anti-science turn? how about the science of whether covid is airborne? whether a cloth mask with gaps is any protection at all? who is at risk from covid and why? whether vaccines confer immunity to a disease (or not)? Whether the vaccine worked (or not)?
    In all of these or more CDC either gave the political answer, the wrong answer or no answer at all…

    Burn it down, God speed Kennedy.

    Reply
    1. Mike from Jersey

      The CDC and the FDA hugely damaged their credibility during the pandemic. In fact, the entire medical establishment hugely damaged their credibility.

      They won’t get public confidence back by simply insisting that we place blind trust in them. The days of blind trust are gone.

      A good start to restoring credibility would be to admit wrongdoing and agree to open, honest inquiry as to how things went so badly wrong.

      Reply
      1. YingYang

        For many, “science” has become a religion. It’s disheartening because at the sweet spot of both, there is Truth.

        Reply
  4. Carolinian

    Re the intro–thank you! Would it be an exaggeration to say that over the centuries medicine has killed as many people as it has saved? Nevertheless when we are ill we have to put our fate in somebody else’s hands and so the “halo effect” is necessary to generate that trust. To some of us who have been around for awhile there has always been the suspicion that the Biden admin were selling the halo more than “science.”

    And while there are still many questions about Covid is it not also true that that those who died were predominately elderly or younger with other chronic conditions including obesity? To be sure the long Covid movement insists there are other risks than dying but then the politicized Biden version of medicine refused to accept that there were also possible risks in the hastily constructed vaccines. Is RFK really so off base in his restriction of the Covid vaccine to the old even if he is wrong about other vaccines?

    Just asking.

    Reply
  5. Socal Rhino

    Seeing “science” or “the science” in such articles hits me in much the same way as seeing “full-scale invasion” in anything related to Ukraine. Might as well have a banner saying what follows is propaganda and not a good faith discussion.

    Reply
  6. Neutrino

    CDC, NIH and FDA are all on hot seats. People want to trust their gov agencies, but that trust eroded under the revelations of industry revolving door, lack of verifiable results, pharma self-asserting safety and lack of candor as just a few reasons.

    This month should be instructive if and when the autism reveal happens. Many oxen to be gored. When is the barbecue?

    Reply
  7. tegnost

    This passage pretty much says it all… What PMC doesn’t lay awake at night worrying about their 401k? Pfizer made these folks a lot of dough, wouldn’t want anything to happen to that pile,and the eua was blatantly unscientific as no one ever called and asked what results/complications were caused because they did not want to know, because 401k…

    Taking mRNA-based covid shots off the market would leave consumers with fewer options for protection. Paxlovid, an antiviral medication that treats the infection in high-risk adults, would be available .

    Reply
    1. Pookah Harvey

      Just as an aside Pfizer has tripled the price the US government pays for the vaccine.

      “Trump on Sept. 1 demanded that drug companies show that covid vaccines work”

      It would be nice to know if mRNA vaccines are the best solution. Is that such an unreasonable request?

      .

      Reply
  8. The Rev Kev

    It wasn’t all that long ago that people were saying that the CDC should be burned down and the ground salted because of all their failures the past few years. They might end up getting their wish. I would not be surprised to learn that RFK jr has a plan to eventually dissolve the CDC and have the States regulate their own health matters. Or maybe just reduce the CDC to a role where it only coordinates State’s responses.

    Reply
  9. Brian in Seattle

    I posted this on a few other forums, but a classic example of admitting no wrong and doubling down are the current states of WA , OR, and California choosing to form their own vaccine recommendations based on other groups that are not the CDC as of now – see here and here

    https://komonews.com/news/local/states-to-launch-west-coast-health-alliance-for-vaccine-public-health-guidance-covid-trump-administration#

    https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/immunization/diseases-and-vaccines/covid-19 (The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) continues to recommend that everyone 6 months and older, including pregnant people, receive the current COVID-19 vaccine to protect against severe illness.)

    At what point however do you admit your recommendations are a farce and no one is following them. Even in the heart of Seattle/King County which is hard core democratic – only 26.9 percent of the residents received a 2024-2025 booster, for the whole state it’s sitting at 19 percent. See here –

    https://doh.wa.gov/data-statistical-reports/health-behaviors/immunization/covid-19-vaccination-data

    That’s 73 percent choosing not to follow the recommendations and the sky isn’t falling and the hospitals aren’t overwhelmed, etc. Yet they continue to promote the Covid vaccine to no end. Last year’s compliance with the policy was about the same.

    Reply
  10. Rick

    I’d like to add my gratitude for Yve’s introduction. While her writing is about the bio-medical situation, I believe the description is applicable to so many discussions these days. I know many people who believe that a Democratic administration would somehow be a solution to, well, everything. It certainly isn’t, witness the last four Democratic administrations (Carter, Clinton, Obama, and Biden).

    Thank you for writing and publishing.

    Reply
  11. David in Friday Harbor

    How ironic, that the neoliberal trope that you must never be wrong was popularized by the television reality show The Apprentice.

    My spouse worked in communications for the Genomics Institute that sequenced the human genome. The scientists there are beyond frustrated with the way that mRNA vaccines were mis-characterized and politicized. The mRNA jabs are extremely effective at what they actually do — but they aren’t sterilizing or immunizing, they simply reduce the harm of a rapidly mutating virus. The political mania for vaccine requirements undermined the public case for harm reduction. I’ve had eight mRNA jabs with no ill-effects and my sole positive bout with Covid after having them only lasted for about 3 days — without Paxlovid.

    Anthony Fauci did more to undermine trust in science than anyone in history, but that doesn’t make RFK Jr. anything other than the junkie whack-job that he has always been.

    Reply
  12. Heraclitus

    There are plenty of mysteries regarding the CDC’s decisions during the Pandemic, but one that still puzzles me is the decision to take the JnJ vaccine off the market. It wasn’t a mRNA vaccine, was purported to perform as as well as the others, particularly with a booster, and didn’t need to be stored in a super cold environment. There were nine deaths and perhaps sixty severe reactions to it out of sixteen million shots given. All were in women, as I recall. Certainly the mRNA vaccines produced more severe adverse reactions than that.

    It was a long time after JnJ was pulled before Novavax became available. Why not keep JnJ on the market but restrict it to men? There seemed to be a deliberate decision by the CDC to restrict the public’s choices, and gender politics may have played a role.

    Reply
  13. Jeff Z

    Dismantling the CDC may be necessary, but it is also high risk. These past several years have shown that the CDC can destroy the credibility for everything it does by making bad / biased / industry influenced / politically influenced decisions areas that cover only a small part of that.

    People will still need a repository of good information upon which to make such decisions. Possibly state level equivalents of the CDC? Flagship universities – but there are questions about those institutions that arise because of fraud that Yves mentioned in her introduction. How do we determine what is worth saving as good science and what is not? Dismantling the CDC may make it even harder to find good information than it is now.

    Don’t forget the publish/perish dynamic that prioritizes novel findings and university prestige. That means you need to look at reforming academia as well as the CDC/public heath sector.

    Reply

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