疾病控制和预防中心的九名前主任公开表示，HHS卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪正在危害美国人的健康。
七名前董事和两名前代理董事——他们的任期可以追溯到前总统吉米·卡特-发表了一篇纽约时报的专栏周一，就在疾控中心新任主任苏珊·莫纳雷斯博士被免职几天后。
消息人士告诉ABC新闻肯尼迪和他的首席副幕僚长斯蒂芬妮·斯皮尔呼吁莫纳雷斯支持改变冠状病毒肺炎疫苗政策和解雇高层人员，莫纳雷斯对此不予承诺。
董事们说，莫纳雷斯的免职是一系列可能对“美国的健康安全”产生“广泛影响”的行动中的最新行动
合著者之一理查德·贝瑟博士是罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会的总裁兼首席执行官，也是前总统巴拉克·奥巴马政府时期疾病预防控制中心的代理主任，他说他和他的同事们对他们所看到的感到震惊。
“我们在卫生与公众服务部，特别是在疾病预防控制中心看到的情况，与往常不同，”他告诉ABC新闻。“政府换届时，总会有变化，不同的政策重点。但是我们看到在小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪部长的领导下，情况完全不同。”
“他担任卫生与公众服务部部长时，有一个强有力的议程，其核心是拆除我们在美国的疫苗系统，并限制人们获得这些拯救生命、维护健康的干预措施，”贝塞尔补充说。
HHS和白宫都没有立即回复ABC新闻的置评请求。
在专栏文章中，前董事们指出了肯尼迪做出的几个决定，包括解雇数千名联邦卫生工作者，吹捧未经证实的疗法随着麻疹在美国蔓延，取消了5亿美元联邦政府资助的mRNA疫苗研究.
导演们还引用了肯尼迪的撤销所有17名成员的职务疾病控制中心疫苗顾问委员会的成员用他亲自挑选的成员来代替他们他们中的许多人分享了疫苗怀疑论者的观点。
贝瑟说，莫纳雷斯的下台，以及至少四名高层领导人的辞职，迫使他和他的同事们站出来说话。
他告诉ABC新闻，他们的离开使美国容易受到日常健康挑战和公共健康威胁。
“我们无法预测下一个疫情什么时候会在这里，但我们知道未来会有大流行，”贝塞尔说。“还会有其他传染性威胁。还会有其他公共卫生挑战，而这位部长的表现方式让我们所有人都处于危险之中。”
他说，他和合著者“并不同意所有的观点，但我们一致认为，我们的联邦公共卫生系统正处于重大危险之中。疾病预防控制中心曾被视为世界领先的公共卫生机构，现在正处于生命维持阶段，需要我们立即给予关注。”
这篇专栏文章呼吁国会监督HHS，这是国会有权做的。它呼应了社交媒体帖子来自参议员比尔·卡西迪(R-Louisiana)，他说CDC领导人的离职需要他主持的参议院委员会的监督。
前董事们还呼吁州政府和地方政府填补肯尼迪的一些行动留下的资金缺口。
“我们代表从吉米·卡特到唐纳德·特朗普、共和党人和民主党人的每一届政府中任职的个人，我们一致认为我们所看到的情况极其令人担忧，国会需要加强并履行监督职能，”贝塞尔告诉美国广播公司新闻。“因此，我们希望我们的声音能够加入其他一些呼吁的声音，希望国会能够尽自己的一份力量。”
Former CDC directors say RFK Jr. is endangering Americans' health
Nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are speaking out, saying Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is endangering the health of Americans.
Seven former directors and two former acting directors -- whose tenures stretch back to the administration offormer President Jimmy Carter-- published anop-ed in The New York Timeson Monday, just days after the ousting of the CDC's new director Dr. Susan Monarez.
Sources told ABC Newsthat Kennedy and Stefanie Spear, his principal deputy chief of staff, called on Monarez to support changes to COVID vaccine policy and the firings of high-level staff, which Monarez would not commit to.
The directors said Monarez's removal is the latest in a series of actions that could have a "wide-ranging impact" on "America's health security."
One of the co-authors, Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and acting director of the CDC during the administration of former President Barack Obama, said he and his colleagues are stunned at what they've seen.
"What we are seeing taking place in the Department of Health and Human Services, and at CDC in particular, is not businesses as usual," he told ABC News. "There are always changes, different policy priorities when administration changes. But what we're seeing under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy [Jr.] is something different altogether."
"He has come into his role as Secretary of Health and Human Services with a strong agenda that is centered on dismantling our vaccine system in America and limiting people's access to these life-saving, health-preserving interventions," Besser added.
Neither HHS nor the White House immediately replied to ABC News' requests for comment.
In the op-ed, the former directors point to several decisions made by Kennedy including thefiring of thousands of federal health workers, toutingunproven treatmentsas measles was spreading in the U.S., and canceling $500 million infederally funded mRNA vaccine research.
The directors also referenced Kennedy'sremoval of all 17 membersof the CDC's vaccine advisory committee andreplacing them with his own hand-selected members, many of whom have shared vaccine-skeptic views.
Besser said the ousting of Monarez, along with the resignation of at least four top leaders, compelled him and his colleagues to speak out.
He told ABC News that their departures leave the U.S. vulnerable to every day health challenges as well as public health threats.
"We can't predict when the next pandemic will be here, but we know there will be future pandemics," Besser said. "There will be other infectious threats. There will be other public health challenges, and with this Secretary performing in the way that he is, it puts us all at risk."
He said he and the co-authors "don't agree on everything, but we agree that our federal public health system is in major jeopardy. The CDC, which had been looked to as the world's leading public health institution, is on life support and needs our attention immediately."
The op-ed called on Congress to oversee HHS, which it has authority to do. It echoes asocial media postfrom Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who said the departure of CDC leaders require oversight from the Senate committee he chairs.
The former directors also called on state and local governments to fill funding gaps left behind by some of Kennedy's actions.
"We represent individuals who served in every administration from Jimmy Carter through Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats, and we were unified in our feeling that what we're seeing is extremely alarming and that Congress needs to step up and perform its oversight function," Besser told ABC News. "And so, we're hoping that our voices will add to some of the other voices that have been calling this out and that Congress will do its part."
