Multiple Core Public Health Programs Cut Or Faltering At CDC, So "Dr." Cassidy Is Calling For "Oversight" And "Review"

[hatrack]

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Kennedy’s move to put his stamp on the CDC means states that have long relied on the agency’s expertise and help in crises such as disease outbreaks will largely be left to fend for themselves, said Ashish Jha, who served as President Joe Biden’s COVID response coordinator from 2022 to 2023. “States are going to be left on their own,” Jha said. “States will struggle with the CDC incapable and dysfunctional. Our system is not designed for states to go it alone.”

The CDC typically plays a critical role by assisting states with disease surveillance, public health interventions, and outbreak response, especially when a crisis spills across state lines. An outbreak of measles this year led to more than 1,400 cases nationwide, and states including Texas, where the outbreak was identified, struggled to get help from the CDC. A CDC program that has long tracked pathogens in food has already reduced the number of hazards it looks for from eight to two, which public health leaders say is making it harder to identify outbreaks. Staff overseeing a CDC program that tracks outdoor pollution that can exacerbate asthma also have been cut.

The agency runs a hotline that doctors around the country can call to get treatment and other types of advice. Under Kennedy’s watch, the CDC has had to pare assistance because of staffing reductions, said Wendy Armstrong, vice president at the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Lives are 100% at stake, no question about it,” Armstrong said. “That you can no longer trust the recommendations out of the CDC is just devastating. It’s appalling to think we can’t trust that information is science-based anymore.”

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Some younger staffers are considering leaving and some workers feel like the shooting accelerated Kennedy’s overhaul of the agency, the CDC employee said. With the battle for control of the CDC still raging, public health leaders are now looking to Congress to put the brakes on Kennedy. Some Republican lawmakers have called for a review of Kennedy’s actions. “These high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee,” Cassidy said Aug. 27 on the social platform X. Cassidy had backed Monarez to lead the agency.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/14/2341701/-At-CDC-worries-mount-that-agency-has-taken-anti-science-turn?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_3&pm_medium=web

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Cassidy being Sen/Dr Bill Cassidy (Asshole-LA)