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One hundred days ago, near the end of August, I left my position as chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alongside two colleagues. We walked out because we could no longer stay silent as scientific integrity was eroded and the nation’s public-health infrastructure was dismantled under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). In that moment, we urged Congress, professional societies, and public-health stakeholders to intervene before irreparable damage was done. I left feeling hopeful.

For several weeks after my resignation, the nation paid attention. There was scrutiny on the misinformation coming from the Secretary, the chaos in the response to a measles outbreak, the unprecedented firing of members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and concerning shifts in how CDC communicates to the public.

That public attention culminated in the Senate HELP Committee hearing in September, where ex-CDC director Susan Monarez told senators she was asked to rubber-stamp vaccine recommendations and dismiss senior career scientists. I also testified to learning about changes to CDC guidance via tweets, to the Secretary’s promotion of unproven medications during a measles outbreak, and to HHS leaders making data requests outside of standard processes.

But today, 100 days later, things have not improved. They have worsened. And Congress has still failed to act.

Earlier this summer, the Senate appropriations committee questioned the continued hiring of political leaders at CDC in their budget language. HHS again ignored Congressional direction. Since September, CDC has onboarded at least two additional political hires, now bringing the count to 14 political leaders and no career scientists in the Office of the Director. The acting CDC director, Jim O’Neill, is neither a scientist nor a physician. These newest hires, Mark Blaxill and Dr. Ralph Abraham, have publicly made anti-vaccine statements.

In October, we witnessed more terminations—though some were eventually reversed—of CDC staff, including those working on the Ebola and measles responses. Further, with the Secretary’s repeated calls for “gold-standard science” and “radical transparency,” it was unclear why the ethics office, the Institutional Review Board office, and the unit overseeing Federal Advisory Committees were targeted.

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The CDC website has shifted from a data-dense site to pages with political agendas. The “CDC priorities” page now negatively mentions immigration, abortion, gender ideology, and harm reduction. Data and science should anchor the CDC, not ideology. Mentions of “mpox” have been changed to “monkeypox,” despite WHO’s 2022 recommendation to use the former term to avoid stigmatization. And in November, CDC scientists woke up to a revised page on autism and vaccine safety misrepresenting decades of research. Several health departments have now removed links to CDC on their sites.

Sixteen strategic initiatives—developed and directed by political appointees without scientific or programmatic review—were rolled out at a senior leadership meeting in November. Through a widely shared PowerPoint presentation, I learned that some priorities, such as “enhancing scientific rigor,” are not led by scientists but by two political appointees: an aviation attorney and a realtor with a self-published book on heaven.

The December ACIP meeting this week hit an all-time low. The three presenters on the hepatitis B vaccine were not vaccine scientists, and two had authored a retracted paper about autism. Added to this, the Secretary’s ally, an anti-vaccine trial lawyer named Aaron Siri who previously petitioned the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine, was given a platform to present on the childhood vaccine schedule. We saw a preview of this in September, when the new ACIP focused on hypothetical risks of vaccines while minimizing established benefits and voted to narrow recommendations for the MMRV and COVID vaccines. The result has been less access to those vaccines for certain populations.

The consequences of CDC’s new direction are not theoretical. They are showing up in children’s hospital beds. We have seen additional pediatric deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases, including whooping cough. Measles outbreaks that should have been stopped quickly have continued due to suppressed messages about vaccine safety and delayed action. These are not failures of clinicians or health departments. They are failures of federal leadership: predictable outcomes when trusted scientific voices are replaced by ideological leaders. The nation’s public-health infrastructure is destabilized.

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Vaccines have become the most visible flashpoint, but the deeper crisis is whether the U.S. will continue to have a science-driven public-health agency capable of protecting the nation. What we have witnessed at the CDC is not reform. It is the hollowing out of an institution Americans rely on in every emergency. The actions since late summer will leave the country less prepared for the next measles outbreak, foodborne illness cluster, maternal mortality crisis, or emerging pandemic. These changes are happening quietly, quickly, and with almost no oversight.

When I resigned, I believed bipartisan members of Congress would step in. Some have raised concerns privately in briefings with me. But meaningful oversight has been absent. Congress has tools: hearings, subpoenas, appropriations language, whistleblower protections, and statutory guardrails. But tools unused are tools wasted.

At the 100-day mark, we have enough data points to know this is not a series of isolated missteps. It is a purposeful reshaping of CDC away from evidence-based practice and toward ideology-driven governance. Today, I am asking again: Congress, governors, health systems, scientific societies, and the private sector must act. Not with statements, but with oversight, pressure, and protection for the career staff who continue to serve with integrity. Just as physicians must always do what is right for their patients, I hope national leaders will do what is right for their constituents and not just what will secure re-election—and that professional organizations and institutions will speak out on behalf of the health of Americans, and not stay silent for fear that they’ll lose funding.

I did not resign to make a symbolic point. I resigned because staying silent would have made me complicit. I spoke up because the stakes for children, communities, and our preparedness are too high. What happens next will determine whether the damage becomes permanent.

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By: Dr. Debra Houry
Title: I Left the CDC 100 Days Ago. My Worst Fears About the Agency Are Coming True
Sourced From: time.com/7338714/dr-debra-houry-essay-cdc/
Published Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

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