Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Former CDC leader Dr. Debra Houry says RFK Jr. should resign
Posted
September 17, 2025
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2,264
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September 17, 2025
2,264
44
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1:06Now PlayingThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's former chief medical officer told lawmakers Wednesday that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should resign.
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., asked Dr. Debra Houry during a hearing about upheaval at the agency if she believed that Kennedy is “incompetent and dangerous to the American people's health.”
“I always believe in optimism and hope, and I would say that was my hope when he started,” Houry said, adding that she read some of Kennedy’s books in preparation to welcoming Kennedy as he took on the role as health secretary.
But after seeing the “number of misstatements” Kennedy made in congressional testimony and “what he has asked our scientists to do and to compromise our integrity and the children that have died under his watch, I think he should resign.”
Former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified alongside Houry in the hearing Wednesday about the political pressure she says she faced from Kennedy. Monarez says she was fired after she refused to preapprove vaccine recommendations from a CDC panel without seeing scientific evidence. Kennedy has denied these claims and told senators earlier this month that she was lying.
Monarez’s firing led to the resignations of several other top health officials, including Houry.
The hearing comes a day before a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the panel that issues vaccine recommendations. Kennedy, known for his anti-vaccine advocacy, has come under fire for removing all members of the board and replacing them with people who align with his views. The panel is expected to vote on authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines, among others.
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