On August 27, 2025, President Trump fired CDC Director Susan Monarez after she declined Kennedy's demands to commit to changes in vaccine policy and to fire top CDC officials. Three other senior CDC officials immediately resigned in protest: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis (top respiratory illness and immunization official), Dr. Deb Houry (chief medical officer), and Dr. Dan Jernigan (infectious disease response director).
Each wrote resignation letters expressing concern over the state of the agency. Kennedy had reportedly pressed Monarez to commit to vaccine policy changes that would contradict scientific evidence. The firing came two weeks after a gunman killed a police officer at CDC headquarters—an attack Kennedy barely acknowledged, waiting 30 hours before commenting, during which he posted fishing photos to social media.
In his first interview about the shooting, Kennedy blamed CDC itself, saying 'the government was overreaching in its efforts to persuade the public to get vaccinated. "