Dr. Fiona Haver, one of the nation’s leading vaccine scientists and a longtime advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has resigned, citing political interference and what she called “a deliberate dismantling of public health infrastructure” under the administration of President Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Dr. Fiona Havers resigned on Monday after 13 years at the C.D.C. “C.D.C. processes are being corrupted in a way that I haven’t seen before,” she said.
In a scathing resignation letter obtained by multiple outlets, Dr. Haver warned that “avoidable deaths will occur” as federal agencies are sidelined and science-based policy is overruled by “ideology and conspiracy-driven decision-making.” Her departure comes just days after the CDC issued an unusually blunt statement saying that Americans “are going to die” if the agency is further blocked from issuing vaccine recommendations and disease control guidance.
The flashpoint appears to be the dismissal of the CDC’s independent Vaccine Advisory Committee, a panel of immunologists, epidemiologists, and infectious disease experts that has guided U.S. vaccine policy for decades. President Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines who once promoted debunked claims linking childhood immunizations to autism, eliminated the advisory group by executive order last month.
“Without expert input and data-driven oversight, this administration is gambling with American lives,” Dr. Haver said in remarks following her resignation. “We are abandoning the very tools that protected us from pandemics, polio, and smallpox.”
RFK Jr., who ran a campaign fueled by skepticism of pharmaceutical companies and government health agencies, defended his actions at a press briefing Tuesday, saying the CDC had become “a captured agency” beholden to industry interests. “Americans have the right to question vaccine safety and to make health decisions free from government coercion,” he said. “We are restoring transparency.”
But public health leaders argue that transparency without scientific leadership is a dangerous illusion. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, former CDC director, called Haver’s resignation a “five-alarm fire” for the future of public health. “Fiona is a voice of reason and expertise. If she’s leaving, we should all be asking why — and what comes next.”
Behind the scenes, several sources within the CDC say morale is at an all-time low, with career scientists expressing fear of retaliation or dismissal for contradicting the administration’s views. A wave of silent departures has followed Haver’s, with at least 12 other top infectious disease staffers reportedly in talks to leave.
Dr. Haver’s resignation caps a turbulent chapter for U.S. health agencies that were once held as global gold standards. Her warning to the American people is as stark as it is simple: “When science is silenced, disease wins.”