More than a year into the second Trump administration, the CDC is still operating without a permanent director — which, former CDC officials said, puts national health and safety at risk.
“This is dangerous,” Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, who served as CDC director during Barack Obama’s two-term presidency, told Healio. “Americans deserve health advice from health experts, not politicians and lawyers.”
For most of the past year, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (a lawyer), Jim O’Neill (a biotech investor) and CDC Chief of Staff Matthew Buzzelli (a lawyer) have made key decisions at the CDC that