CDC Chief Dr. Demetre Daskalakis resigns with a blistering letter, accusing Trump and RFK Jr. of endangering public health
In a stunning development, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis has resigned from his role as Chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), citing what he described as dangerous political interference from former President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In his resignation letter, Dr. Daskalakis made it clear that he could no longer remain silent as public health policy was, in his words, “twisted for politics rather than science.” He accused Trump’s CDC leadership of turning the agency into “a political weapon, not a scientific institution.”
Dr. Daskalakis wrote:
“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 blasted RFK Jr.’s HHS for “radical non-transparency and unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end,” warning that these actions could push the nation back toward “a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive.”
He further cautioned that sidelining career scientists, weakening vaccine recommendations, and distorting data could “result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”
Dr. Daskalakis’s resignation comes on the heels of the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who reportedly resisted efforts to endorse policies critics say undermine science. Several other senior CDC officials have also stepped down in protest.
Public health experts stress that independence and scientific integrity are essential for the CDC’s mission. The resignations of top scientists signal deep concern that U.S. health policy is being reshaped for political purposes rather than public safety.
Dr. Daskalakis’s departure has been described not just as a resignation, but as a moral stand — a refusal to participate in what he sees as the politicization of life-and-death decisions for millions of Americans.
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