Lisa Jarvis, Columnist

Purging the CDC Could Be a Fatal Mistake

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is dismantling decades of trust, expertise and coordination for political gain.

August 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM UTC

Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News.

This isn’t how you make America healthy again.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America

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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is rapidly destroying our nation’s public health infrastructure.

The abrupt dismissal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director, combined with the exodus of several senior officials marks a deeply troubling escalation. These developments make crystal clear the extent to which Kennedy is willing to impose his anti-vaccine and anti-science ideology on the agencies tasked with protecting the health and well-being of Americans.