Dr. Debra Houry, former chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has sharply criticized the agency's direction under Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In an interview aired on CBS News’s "Face the Nation," Houry said, "I think the secretary has caused a lot of irreparable harm," citing a dramatic drop in public trust in the CDC by over 20 points in many polls.

Since Kennedy took over at HHS in February 2025, he has exerted sweeping authority over the CDC, including forcing out then-Director Susan Monarez in August 2025 over vaccine policy disagreements. This move prompted Houry to resign after more than a decade at the agency. Kennedy also replaced members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel with his own selections, leading to changes in childhood immunization guidelines that reduced the number of recommended shots.

During Kennedy's tenure, the CDC has faced measles outbreaks in several states. Public trust in the CDC has notably declined; a survey conducted by the Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation’s Public Health Listening Lab from March 19 to April 1, 2026, found that only 50 percent of 2,205 U.S. adults trust health recommendations from the CDC. This contrasts with a similar survey in spring 2025, where 77 percent of respondents expressed trust in the agency's recommendations.

Houry expressed concern about the difficulty of rebuilding trust, noting that some states have removed links to the CDC website in favor of other medical organizations.

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