Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is urging Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign after a week of upheaval at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where Director Susan Monarez was fired and four top officials resigned in protest.
In an op-ed published Saturday in The New York Times, Sanders said that while he shares President Trump and Kennedy’s stated goal of improving public health, “since coming into office President Trump and Mr. Kennedy have done exactly the opposite.” He criticized Kennedy’s long record of vaccine skepticism, writing that the secretary has “profited from and built a career on sowing mistrust in vaccines” and is now “using his authority to launch a full-blown war on science.”
Sanders warned that Kennedy’s leadership could undermine access to lifesaving vaccines and allow diseases long suppressed in the U.S. to resurface. He also condemned HHS’s decision to cut $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine development.
“The danger here is that diseases that have been virtually wiped out because of safe and effective vaccines will resurface and cause enormous harm,” Sanders wrote. “Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign.”
The White House defended Monarez’s removal, with the press secretary saying Trump has the “authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.” Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill was appointed Thursday.
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