In Wake of CDC Turmoil, PIDS Calls for Public Health to Be Led By Science, Not Ideology

The firing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, and the related, subsequent resignations of four top CDC leaders, for reportedly refusing to be a rubber stamp on anti-vaccine recommendations has brought us to a regrettable, undeniable truth – the role of science and data in determining public health policy has been thoroughly undermined and the CDC’s reputation gutted in the minds of health care professionals and, most importantly, the American public who depend on accurate information.

Many Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society members have friends and colleagues at the CDC. They are extremely hard-working scientists dedicated to uncovering and delivering the most accurate data because people’s lives literally depend on it. Focusing on only one part of the many missions of the CDC, PIDS is frustrated by the litany of moves that will only erode the ability of the CDC to truly help Americans, which includes the ousting of the qualified members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replacement with hand-picked vaccine skeptics, permitting unvetted and faulty research to be presented at the June ACIP meeting, the withdrawal of U.S. investment in mRNA technology, eliminating CDC staff, cancelling essential research and more.

Our AAP and IDSA colleagues have come to the same conclusion – CDC and ACIP can no longer be viewed as reliable sources for vaccine and public health information. They have abandoned traditional data-driven scientific decision making. In place of reliable clinical expertise is vaccine-hostile quackery. As a result, we are in a perilous position. The fissures of vulnerability these actions have opened will be exploited when, not if, the next infectious diseases crisis crashes onto our shores.

To protect public health, we must lead with science, not ideology. We must adhere to the sound evidence-based approach that produced a CDC treasured by the American public and seen as the gold level standard of public health around the world.

We are pleased to see bipartisan statements questioning the nature of the CDC director’s removal Infectious diseases do not see red or blue, only vulnerabilities. PIDS calls on our elected officials to exercise their oversight authority to ensure the CDC and ACIP remain committed to scientifically driven in public health policy in order to best inform and protect the public and regain the American people’s trust.