Nurses worry about CDC shakeup, and the agency’s ability to handle a crisis

The nation’s largest advocacy group for nurses says it’s alarmed by the ouster of Susan Monarez as CDC director and worried the agency is ill-equipped to handle public health threats.

Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, says she’s troubled by the dismissal of Monarez and the resignation of other top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week.

"The removal of the CDC Director and resignation of key leaders raises serious questions about our country's ability to respond to a public health crisis if it were to happen today," Mensik Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday.

“There has been a lot of change but not a lot of change management,” she said. “The amount of change without transparency and clear communication is whipsawing to healthcare professionals and the public at large. Americans deserve steady and consistent leadership at the helm of the CDC to safeguard their health, safety, the economy and national security."

The White House says Monarez was fired just weeks after winning Senate confirmation because she wasn’t aligned with the administration’s policies. Monarez’s attorneys say she was committed to protecting public health and refused to sign off on “unscientific” directives or fire qualified CDC staff, and that led to her termination.

Medical groups and public health leaders have slammed the firing of Monarez and warned that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is undermining the ability of federal health agencies.

Nine former CDC directors, who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, wrote that they are worried about the agency in an op-ed published by The New York Times. They wrote that Kennedy’s ouster of Monarez and the resignation of other key CDC leaders makes it clear that “the agency is hurting badly.”

“The loss of Dr. Monarez and other top leaders will make it far more difficult for the C.D.C. to do what it has done for about 80 years: work around the clock to protect Americans from threats to their lives and health,” the former directors wrote. They also called on Congress to exercise its oversight of the health department.

Mensik Kennedy said the nurses’ association is troubled by the shakeup at the CDC and the potential impact on facing public health threats. The group also wants more answers about the changes taking place at the CDC.

“We stand ready to serve but cannot remain silent as transparency and a lack of consistent leadership in these critical agencies have the potential to undermine decades of progress in public health,” Mensik Kennedy says. “Ensuring stability and integrity within our public health infrastructure is not optional, it is imperative for the health, well-being and security of our nation.”

Kennedy has faced mounting criticism over a number of his actions as health secretary, including terminating mRNA vaccine projects, changing COVID-19 vaccine guidance, approvals of COVID-19 shots that could limit access to millions, and ousting the members of a key vaccine advisory panel.

Mensik Kennedy pointed to the vaccine panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and said it should be “reconstituted to ensure robust and balanced debate.” Critics have said Kennedy replaced qualified members of the committee with some who embrace his long-running skepticism of vaccines.

Mensik Kennedy argued that public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, threaten America’s economy and national security.“A strong CDC is essential to safeguarding public health,” she said.

The American Medical Association, which represents the nation’s doctors, said last week that it was disturbed by the CDC turmoil. Bobby M. Mukkamala, MD, president of the AMA, said the ouster of Monarez and the resignations of top leaders is “highly alarming.”

“We must restore confidence in our public health institutions to ensure that scientific expertise and data drive guidance and policy,” Mukkamala said in a statement.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, wrote in a post on X over the weekend that the firing of Monarez and the other departures “raises considerable questions about what is happening within the agency.” She added that she supported Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, in his call for more oversight of the health department.

“The removal of the director after such a short tenure appears to be evidence that politics are taking precedence over policy,” Murkowski said.

Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, has been named the interim CDC director.

Monarez was President Trump’s second nominee to lead the CDC. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology and has experience in infectious diseases.

She was tapped after the White House withdrew the nomination of Dave Weldon, MD, a physician and former congressman, when it became clear he would not get confirmed by the Senate.

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