Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is calling for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step down after several senior officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) left the agency.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced the removal of CDC Director Susan Monarez, less than a month after she was confirmed. Monarez was dismissed after refusing Kennedy’s orders to impose new restrictions on the availability of certain vaccines, including approvals for COVID-19 shots.
Following her removal, four other senior CDC officials resigned in protest, citing Kennedy’s anti-vaccine policies. Hundreds of employees also walked out of the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta to support their former colleagues.
In an op-ed for The New York Times, Sanders said Kennedy is “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future.” He accused the secretary of firing Monarez because she refused “to act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous policies.”
Sanders argued that “despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts.” He also stressed, “It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective. That is not just my view—it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities.”
The senator highlighted how vaccines for diseases like polio and COVID-19 have saved hundreds of millions of lives worldwide.
Sanders, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate’s health committee, opposed Kennedy’s confirmation earlier this year. Kennedy was sworn in as secretary in February. After Monarez’s removal, Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill was appointed acting director of the CDC.
The Trump administration defended Monarez’s dismissal. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the president has the “authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.”
Leavitt added, “The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust, transparency, and credibility to the CDC by ensuring leadership decisions are more public-facing and accountable. This will strengthen our public health system and keep it focused on protecting Americans from diseases while investing in innovation to respond to future threats.”
Earlier this week, Sanders called for an investigation into Monarez’s firing, describing it as “reckless” and “dangerous.” In his op-ed, he claimed Kennedy “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, public health, and truth itself.”
Sanders warned that Kennedy’s leadership could make it harder for Americans to access “lifesaving vaccines.” He also said the U.S. risks seeing diseases return that had once been nearly wiped out by vaccinations.
“Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign,” Sanders concluded. “In his place, President Trump must listen to doctors and scientists and nominate leaders at HHS and the CDC who will protect the health and well-being of the American people, not push dangerous policies based on conspiracy theories.”
