The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official tasked with overseeing the nation’s vaccine policy resigned from his post Wednesday, shortly after the White House fired the agency’s director.
Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, cited his philosophical differences with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that “challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people,” adding, “Enough is enough.”
“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,” he wrote in his resignation letter, which he also posted on social media.
Daskalakis pointed to the recent change in the immunization schedule for children and pregnant women and said, “The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.”
Similarly, the former vaccine official said the “frequently asked questions” document that HHS circulated to accompany the policy change was written “without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.”
“Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people,” he wrote.
Daskalakis also lamented the “lack of communication” by HHS and CDC leadership before announcing major policy changes, which, he said, his staff then needed to substantiate with scientific analyses.
“Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function,” the outgoing official wrote.
He added that Kennedy never sought the advice of the center.
“We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary,” said Daskalakis, who served as the deputy monkeypox coordinator under the Biden administration.
“I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us,” he continued. “Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.”
Daskalakis in his resignation letter blasted the “eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies,” saying it “will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer.”
“I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability,” he said.
The letter was addressed to Deb Houry, the chief medical officer and the agency’s deputy director for program and science, and said it was effective Aug. 28, but “I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.”
Daskalakis and Houry were two of at least four top CDC officials that stepped down Wednesday after Monarez, who was sworn in as CDC director late last month, was ousted after refusing to resign.
The Hill has reached out to the agency for comment.
