Houry, who resigned after Monarez was removed, said that she made the decision to leave her post because “CDC leaders were reduced to rubber stamps, supporting policies not based on science and putting American lives at risk.”
She criticized Kennedy’s leadership as head of Health and Human Services and accused him of censoring CDC science, politicizing its processes and stripping the agency’s leaders of independence.
“I could not in good conscience remain under those conditions,” Houry said.
She said the nation is on track to see significant increases in preventive diseases and declines in health “due to the secretary’s actions.”
“Trust and transparency have been broken,” Houry said. “Here again, the problem is not too much science, but too little.”
Houry detailed the flow of information within the Department of Health and Human Services under Kennedy’s tenure, including learning that Kennedy had changed the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance through a social media post. She said CDC scientists have not seen the data or justification for those changes.
Houry also said the secretary’s office ordered the removal of a scientific document on thimerosal, an organic compound used as a preservative in drug products, from the CDC’s website and allowed an “unvetted presentation” on the additive before ACIP.
“That kind of last-minute alteration undermines confidence and the deliberations that follow, and is certainly not radical transparency,” Houry said.